What is Whiplash?
Whiplash is the term given to describe the sudden movement of the neck in a forwards and backwards motion. This causes the soft tissue in the neck to be stretched and strained. Whiplash is most commonly caused by car accidents, but whiplash can also be caused by other accidents, including slips and trips.
What are the symptoms of whiplash?
The most common symptom of a whiplash injury is pain and stiffness in the neck. However, whiplash can also cause a number of other symptoms, including back and shoulder pain, headaches, loss of movement in the neck, blurred vission and pins and needles.
Symptoms of whiplash may not be experienced immediately after an accident. This is becuase following an accident adrenalin can often take over, supressing the pain and affect of whiplash for several hours. In fact, it is not uncommon for symptoms of a whiplash injury to go undetected for several days.
The severity of a whiplash injury can vary significantly from person to person. While some people make a full recovery within a few days or weeks, other people can suffer with a whiplash injury for several months or even years.
How is a whiplash injury caused?
Whiplash is most commonly caused when a car crashes into the rear of a stationery or slow moving vehicle. However, whiplash can also be caused by other road accidents, as well as slips and trips.
Although your head is restrained during a car crash by your seatbelt, your head is not. Therefore following impact your head is thrown backwards and forwards, causing the whiplash injury. Generally speaking, the greater the impact, the more severe the subsequent whiplash injury will be. However, even a slow moving minor car accident can result in a whiplash injury.
If you have been involved in an accident and would like some advice on making a whiplash compensation claim, contact us on 0800 180 4633 or complete our online personal injury claim form.
For more information on whiplash and making a whiplash compensation claim, please click on the links to the right of this page.
Our panel of UK solicitors specialise in whiplash injury claims. So whether you have suffered whiplash due to a car accident or an accident at work, our solicitors can help.