What Is the Whiplash Injury?
Maybe the most common cause of the whiplash injury is the car accident. It can also be a consequence of practicing strenuous sports. However, an average of 1 in 5 people who get involved in car collisions (especially people who get rammed from behind), end up suffering either from whiplash or from neck pain.
In the case of someone hitting you from behind, it happens like this: as your car is pushed forward, your body follows it also, but only after a very brief delay. As this happens, the shoulders will move forward in order to get under the head. Then the classic head motion we’ve all seen happens: it tilts towards the steering wheel of your car, extending forwards. As you brake, the car is stopped. This will have the unpleasant effect of throwing your neck backwards until it hits the chair or the headrest.
Needless to say, the tissues of the neck will take more strain than they usually handle. Usually, the ligaments, muscles and tendons get damaged, and occasionally, the nerves. It is exactly this damage that is called the whiplash injury. You may also hear people refer to it as hyperextension injury or cervical sprain.
For a complete list of whiplash symptoms, follow this link.
Although most of the people will recover from a whiplash injury in a few weeks, some who are not so lucky can bear the consequences of such an accident for life. These consequences often include: tingling in arms and legs, regular headaches, tiredness, stiffness, sleep deprivation, etc. These long term consequences of a more sever whiplash injury are referred to as the whiplash syndrome. For people who get involved in a car accident that fits this description, the best way to go about it is to immediately see a doctor, especially if after a few days you start feeling pain in the neck area.