By Elizabeth McQuillan
Usually caused by someone driving their car into your rear bumper, whiplash injury accounts for three-quarters of all personal injury claims in the UK. According to the Association of British Insurers (ABI), nearly 1,200 whiplash claims are made every day.
Unfortunately, fraudulent claims are pushing up insurance premiums – and, according to Accidents Direct, nearly £1.6bn of whiplash claims are met each year from drivers’ insurance premiums.
So inclined are we to claim for whiplash – real or imagined – that claims are reportedly 40 per cent higher in the UK than anywhere else in Europe.
At the 2011 Whiplash Conference in Leeds, James Dalton – assistant director of motor and liability at the ABI – said the industry could no longer tolerate the number of claims.
"Despite the statistics," Dalton, "I doubt that the UK has some of the weakest necks in Europe. Often difficult to diagnose, easy to fake and exaggerate, whiplash is a fraudster’s dream.
"We seem ill-equipped to effectively identify and treat whiplash; our compensation system is too slow in paying fair compensation and offering rehabilitation to genuine claimants, and our compensation culture encourages fraud.
"All this must change. Our action plan will set up what is missing: an effective partnership between doctors, insurers and lawyers to ensure better prevention and treatment of whiplash, and crackdown on fraudulent claims. This will reduce the unacceptable costs which whiplash currently imposes on individuals, businesses and the state."
Whiplash injuries have, unfortunately, become synonymous with low-grade, ambulance-chasing claims firms. Just Google "whiplash" and the first three listed sites enquire "What's your claim worth?", "How much could you claim?" and "Keep 100 per cent of your compensation".
While whiplash from a car accident can result in very real and painful symptoms, there are people who will claim injury when a car nudges their back bumper while barely moving. Sometimes only after discussion with a claims company.
Some unscrupulous individuals have even been known to set up a minor collision for the cash gains – "Oops, did I reverse into you by accident?" – then to share any booty following settlement from the insurers.
It is difficult to disprove neck discomfort, and many fraudulent claimants are happy to pursue claims in the hope of cash returns. But real injury as a result of whiplash is no joke, neither is it imagined.
So what is whiplash, and how does it happen?
Whiplash actually only describes the mechanism of injury – hyperextension followed by hyperflexion – with the acceleration/deceleration of the heavy head acting relative to the neck. The body remains motionless, the head is thrown backward (hyperextension) and snapped sharply forward (hyperflexion). The head is being thrust forward at a greater speed than the backward thrust.
This force acts on seven cervical vertebrae, with 32 joints and the entire structure supported and connected by muscles, ligaments and tendons. However, whiplash doesn’t describe the injury itself.
Actual injuries that are the result of whiplash are by no means the same, and can fall within a wide spectrum.
At the lower end – and the one most frequently nursed by stiff-necked victims – is minor soft tissue injury to the area which is certainly sore but is in no way life-threatening. Soft tissue injury includes damage to ligaments and muscles, which may have been stretched or torn by the trauma.
Beyond this, various degrees of injury can occur alongside soft tissue damage, including fracture of a vertebra, dislocation of a vertebra or – if you are very unfortunate – a fracture and dislocation together.
These more serious injuries have implications depending on the level of the injury (including which vertebra), as the nerves servicing the corresponding areas of the body can become stretched and potentially damaged. This leaves communication between the brain and that area of the body affected, perhaps resulting in a temporary paralysis or reduced sensation.
Roughly two in three people develop neck pain following a car bump, but the majority are simple soft tissue injuries. Symptoms, if present, can be one or more from the following:
* pain and stiffness in the neck area, usually developing a little while after the injury
* discomfort and stiffness around the shoulder girdle and arms
* difficulty turning the head
* headaches, dizziness and blurred vision – consult a doctor
Assuming the injury is of the soft tissue variety, following assessment at a hospital, you might spend a few days in a soft neck support. Recovery, however, involves getting the neck mobile once more. Gentle turns and nods within a limited range should help stop the neck seizing up if done every few hours. No lounging on the sofa all day eating chocolates. Anti-inflammatory painkillers such as ibuprofen work very well.
Physiotherapy may be recommended to introduce movement and exercises that take the neck through its full range of motion. Pay particular attention to posture, as it can have a profound effect along the entire length of the spine, and try not to spend too much time with your head fixed in any one position.
Supportive pads used under the neck when resting and sleeping might help to alleviate some of the strain. The time it takes to recover can vary tremendously, from a few weeks to six to eight months – but some injuries take far longer to heal.
With so many claims, insurance companies are looking to car manufacturers to improve seat- and head-restraint design. As things stand, a majority of whiplash injuries could be avoided or reduced by the correct positioning of the head restraint in the car.
Perhaps this will be a factor examined in future claims, where drivers have a duty to protect themselves. According to industry experts, 72 per cent of front-seat occupants fail to adjust their head restraints correctly, with most having them positioned so that it is a comfortable to recline the head.
As a rough guide, the head-rest should be in line with the back of the head, not in line with the neck. An uncomfortable position, perhaps, but it does serve to prevent the head pivoting backwards over the back of the rest in the case of an accident.
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