Whiplash Is Real

Thousands of automobile collisions occur everyday.What was eye opening about these studies was
And every day thousands are injured. Unfortunatelywhat happens to the neck when subjected to
for many of these victims the collision is only the"whiplash" loads. The neck does not snap back into
start of their woes.hyperextension as earlier proposed. Instead the lower
Today there is still a stigma over automobile accidentbones in the neck rotate backwards and then the
injuries. Many other wise well meaning emergencyupper bones flex forward. At a point in time, merely
room physicians, general medical doctors and even50 milliseconds into the loading, the spine takes on an
many chiropractors do not fully appreciate the extent"S" configuration. This deformation of the spine
of injury suffered by these patients. A recent surveycauses shearing forces tot eh joints, discs, muscle
found that a significant percentage of family practiceand ligaments resulting in damage. Interestingly, this
and orthopedic physicians question the validity ofphenomenon occurs so quickly it is actually prior to
whiplash. [1]the subject being aware of the impact and before
Insurance companies question the existence ofreflexes can protect them. In other words, by the
whiplash as well for obvious economic reasons. Thistime you are conscious of the impact via sight or
often puts the injured parties in conflict with theirsound, your neck is already damaged!
own doctor and insurance company. All the victimAfter studying this research, prominent researcher
knows is that he or she is hurt, but their pleas forNikolai Bogduk of the University of Newcastle wrote
relief fall on deaf ears."As a result of this study, we no longer rely on
This doesn't have to be.inference or speculation; we have a direct
There are literally hundreds of scientific and medicaldemonstration of the mechanism of injury in
journal papers precisely describing the tissues injuredwhiplash." [5]
and the mechanism by which it occurs in motorMany newer studies have been performed, many on
vehicle collisions. It is no longer theory, but hardlive human subjects using high speed cineradiography
science that tells us that whiplash injuries are real.that conclusively shows the effects of rear impact
Human cadavers were filmed with high speedtrauma on the cervical spine. Whiplash is no longer a
cineradiography (motion x-rays) while being subjectedtheory that can be disputed. Medical science now
to simulated rear impact loading in 1997 by Panjabiproves without reservation that whiplash is indeed
and Grauer at the Dept. of Orthopaedics andreal.
Rehabilitation at Yale University School of Medicine.[2]References:
This research documented the mechanism of injury in[1] Evans RW, Evans RJ, Sharp MJ. The physician
rear impact collisions.survey on post concussion and whiplash syndromes.
The study was repeated by Panjabi, Cholewicki,Headache. 1994;34:268-274.
Grauer et al. in 1998 this time on live human subjects[2] Panjabi MM, Grauer JN (1997): "Whiplash produces
and yielded similar results. [3]a S-shape curvature of the neck with hyperextension
The findings of these studies were confirmed on liveat lower levels. " Spine 22 (21): 2489-94.
human test subjects by Kaneoka et al in 1999 at the[3] Panjabi MM, Cholewicki J, Nibu K, Grauer JN, Babat
Department of Orthopedic Surgery at the UniversityLB, Dvorak J, Bar HF (1998-12-01): "[Biomechanics of
of Tsukuba, Japan.[4]whiplash injury]." Orthopade 1998 Dec; 27(12): 813-9.
The Panjabi and Kaneoka studies proved what[4] Koji Kaneoka, Koshiro Ono, Satoshi Inami and
proponents of whiplash treatment have been sayingKoichiro Hayashi (99-04-15). "Motion analysis of
for decades. Namely, the cervical spine is injured in acervical vertebrae during whiplash loading.
rear impact collision. Whiplash is real.