Diagnosed with whiplash?
Whiplash injury is often diagnosed following low-speed car accidents where a car is hit from behind. The driver and passengers in the car that has been hit are likely to suffer from whiplash injury by the force of the impact that jolts the body/neck in a forwards and backwards motion. This motion can stretch the neck muscles causing soft tissue whiplash injury and consequential pain.
The whiplash injury often leads to weeks or months of pain and suffering with, in more severe cases, time off work.
What is whiplash injury?
As whiplash injury solicitor we are often confronted by the insurance companies often complaining that there are many fraudulent claims costing motor car policy holders £millions in additional insurance premiums. The problem with insurance companies is that there is very little evidence from a medical point of view that can confirm whiplash injury as the injury cannot be seen.
The medical doctor will often have to rely upon the circumstances of the road traffic accident claim as described, what the patient says is about the pain and suffering and then after taking all the facts into account provide an opinion of how long the whiplash injury will last until the patient makes a full recovery.
The whiplash itself is due to a sprain of the neck, where the tendons and ligaments are stretched or torn by the sudden forwards, backwards or sideways movement of the cervical spine (neck) which comes under considerable unsupported force when the car is struck from behind, for instance.
Often whiplash injury symptoms often take 6 – 12 hours for the pain and discomfort to begin. Often we are faced with the Defendant driver claiming that “there is nothing wrong with her” as at the time of the road crash, “she did not complain of any pain, she was alright…”
However the diagnosis of whiplash injury often arises when pain does not arise until later and on often not until days later.
The symptoms of a whiplash injury include neck pain, tenderness muscle spasms, headaches, and limited range movement. There can also be injury to the shoulder and back.
Whiplash injury diagnosis and claim
If you have been diagnosed with whiplash injury and wish to make a compensation claim contact us now for professional and independent legal advice.
