Whiplash Is Not A Minor Injury

The amount of compensation paid out to victims of whiplash injuries could increase after research proved that the injury can leave a long-term damage to neck muscles even years after the injury was sustained.

According to research by Australian-based experts, long-term damages are possible as a result of a whiplash injury,and there is evidence to prove it.

The research conducted by Dr James Elliott, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Queensland's Centre for Clinical Research Excellence in Spinal Paid, Injury and Health, and his colleagues at the University of Queensland (UQ), found that the scans of those who suffer chronic neck pain years after sustaining a whiplash injury revealed that there were signs of the development of irregular fat deposits- which is an indicator of damage deep within their neck muscles.

Dr Elliott stated that the fat deposits were not related to a person's overall weight.

One of the participants who was found to have the deposits had suffered from their whiplash injury just three months earlier, which the led the research to focus on how quickly they appear.

According to studies in animals, the results of how trauma can lead to spine-muscle turning into fat within days.

He added: "We've found that people with long-term injury have large amounts of fat infiltration in their neck muscles.

Our hypothesis is, at least in some of these individuals who have had a whiplash-type injury, is that their muscles might turn to fat really quick and that's what we're trying to answer."

He stated that the discovery will put some kind of peace of mind to those who suffered pain long after their injury and were unable to get a proper answer.

He said: "Whiplash is not always the best term, to be honest, because it conjures up images amongst society of people trying to milk the system," as 80 per cent of people who suffer the injury usually go on to recover without any effects.

He said: "They will heal quite quickly in a few months...but there's 20 (per cent) of the population that, for whatever reason, goes on to have longer-term pain and disability and no one to this day has really known why."

He added: "Four out of ten people who have had a whiplash injury will continue to have some ongoing pain for 6 months and 20-25% of them will continue to report symptoms more than three years later.

We don't know the exact reasons as to why, but it's clear that if symptoms persist for six months following injury, the status of a whiplash patient is unlikely to change in the long-term."

Meanwhile, motorists and passengers who want to avoid suffering from whiplash injuries should put adjusting their headrests as another safety precaution alongside buckling seatbelts after getting into a vehicle.

Stefanie Hay, an insurance and claims expert at Aviva Canada said: "Headrests are designed to work alongside the seatbelt so that when an accident occurs it prevents the head from twisting backwards, which subsequently results in whiplash.

Drivers can sustain an injury from an incorrectly adjusted headrest even at speeds as low as 15 kilometres per hour - the same speed as the average bicycle."