Whiplash claims

What is a whiplash injury and how to claim against one?

whiplash_claims

Whiplash is a word used to describe the type of injury that can be caused when your neck is stretched or strained by your head moving backwards and forwards quickly whilst your body is restrained by a seatbelt. The weight of your head being jolted puts great strain on the soft tissues around the neck. This type of injury is frequently a result of a vehicle rear end collision, but can occur in frontal and side impacts too. Anything not restrained in the vehicle will continue moving at speed. In this way, considerable damage can be done to the soft tissues around the neck, often resulting in a whiplash injury. The shoulders and upper body will usually have been restrained by a seatbelt, and whilst some cars are fitted with head restraints on the seats, they do not stop the head jerking quickly in a collision, putting considerable strain on the neck, and causing the "whiplash" injury effect.

Car accidents are a frequent cause of whiplash claims, because of the way the vehicle reacts to an impact, accelerating or decelerating very quickly in a way that can cause strain to the occupants neck with a resultant whiplash injury. All of the common symptoms of whiplash can be traced either directly or indirectly to the trauma your neck experienced. Whiplash injuries are very common, always a surprise and rarely the fault of the victim. Most whiplash injuries are minor and heal within a few weeks with the proper care. Unfortunately, a small number of patients - about 20 to 30% of whiplash injury cases - become chronic and lead to long-term discomfort.

Generally, the heavier the collision, the more severe the whiplash injury, and the younger you are, the faster you will recover, but every case is different. Some people find it very hard to get back to normal after a whiplash injury, and suffer intermittently for years. Others recover fully much faster than might be expected. Expert medical opinion can be very helpful in a whiplash injury case, and your specialist solicitor will probably regard it as essential if the pain lasts for any length of time. It is better to be confident about your whiplash injury recovery rather than just settling your whiplash claim quickly in the hope that you will recover. This is where our solicitors will help. Get in touch today!

Severity of Whiplash Injury Symptoms and Recovery

A whiplash injury may not be apparent until a little time after an accident. It is quite common for the pain to get worse for some hours or even days after the accident. The whiplash injury causes pain on movement of the neck, when turning the head or looking up and down. The pain often radiates into the shoulders and upper back, and sometimes people complain of headaches too. The pain can come and go for days, weeks, months or even years, depending on the severity of the whiplash injury and the person who is suffering it.

The neck is part of the spine. It is surrounded by sensitive tissue. If it is jerked, stretched or twisted hard as a result of the momentum from a vehicle impact then damage can be caused to those tissues and a whiplash injury can occur. As many of these whiplash injuries are suffered by vehicle passengers, and also by car drivers when there is a rear end shunt from another vehicle, whiplash claims are frequently made following car accidents.

Here's a list of the most common whiplash symptoms:

  • Headache
  • Neck pain
  • Dizziness
  • Shoulder pain
  • Jaw pain
  • Arm pain

For some accident victims that suffer a whiplash injury, recovery can be a very slow and painful process. It is not easy to predict in the early stages how long recovery may take. As the whiplash claim is dependent on the pain and suffering, and other losses arising from the accident, it is usually sensible to wait for the recovery to be completed, or at least the whiplash injury to be stable before the value of the whiplash claim is assessed for the final settlement. If you have been involved in a Road Accident, you need prompt and efficient attention. You need a replacement car, often treatment, and help with your insurance claim forms. We can provide all of this assistance and much more. You do not need to be left alone to cope, take some help from the experts.