Introduction to biomechanics


Children Who Suffer Whiplash Injury - The Forgotten Injured.

Despite a Swedish study in 1995 thatwith whiplash injuries, with 47% of these
suggested that the risk of whiplash inbeing over the age of 12. Forty of these were
children is as high as two-thirds of the'Grade 1' or severe cases and took an average
likelihood of an adult suffering theof 19.7 days to recover, with the rest
condition, less than 2% of whiplashreaching a comfortable state in 6.4 days. The
literature  is  actually devoted to children.main conclusion of the report focused on the
age of the children and states that the risk
Considering that the strength of a six yearof whiplash injury increases as a child
old's spine is only around 25% of thereaches puberty, probably as a result of the
strength of an adult's, clinical researchphysiological changes that the child is
begs the question as to why more children areundergoing.
not  admitted  with  whiplash  injuries.
Children also rank alongside women as being
The answer may lie in factors such as seatingmore likely to suffer whiplash injury than
in cars. Children tend to ride in the backmen which seems to be due to their size.
seats of cars, which are known to beBeing shorter, they can often be closer to
generally safer than the front seats. Thethe airbag and, in an impact, this can
back seats also have reduced elasticity andexaggerate the movement of the neck. Size can
smaller backrests, designed specifically toalso mean that they may have less securely
minimise the potential for injury infitted  restraints.
low-speed rear impact crashes. Children also
are proven to have a greater range of spinalIn the past, children involved in accidents
motion and generally also have less historyof this nature have been too often
of injuries or degenerative diseases whichoverlooked, both statistically and by the
can adversely affect the outcome of a rearworld of insurance; a number of insurance
impact  and  any  injuries  incurred.companies have refused to pay for the
treatment of children who have received
In October, a study was conducted using 105whiplash and whiplash associated disorders,
children under the age of 17; each of whombur personal injury specialist firms have
had been involved in a low impact collision.been persistent, setting precedents that
They were each interviewed and assessed atshould ensure that children are no longer the
intervals according to the severity of their'forgotten injured' of these unfortunate and
injuries:- the most severe cases wereoften  debilitating  accidents.
interviewed 2 weeks after they received their
injuries, with further assessments scheduledWhiplash is the term used to describe a soft
at further 2 week intervals. Less severetissue injury to the neck when you are
cases were initially interviewed 5 days postinvolved in a car accident. The pain can last
injury. 39% of these children were sitting infor a matter of days or in more severe cases
the front seat at the time of impact and 61%a number of years. However, only a minor
were rear-seat passengers and, of these, 50%percentage of whiplash injuries result in
were involved in rear impact collisions, 32%long term injuries with most people making a
were involved in head on collisions and 18%full recovery. The important point is to make
were  in  side-on  impacts.sure you are treated by professional medical
staff as soon as possible.
49 out of 105 of the patients were recorded



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