Whiplash injuries are very common in car accidents and are caused as a result of the impact of a sudden, unexpected collision. Whiplash injuries can also be caused by other accidents where a collision occurs.
Whiplash is usually caused by the head being pushed backwards while the body moves forwards. The head may then be pushed forwards, usually when a car has come to a sudden stop against another car or vehicle or where the driver has made an emergency stop. The whiplash movement, or hyperextension, causes muscles and ligaments in the neck and shoulders to become excessively straightened and so become damaged. Where the head is pushed forwards after being pushed back, this can cause hyperflexion, where the neck over-bends and can become damaged. In a car accident hyperextension occurs in approximately a tenth of a second and hyperflexion typically a tenth of a second later. Even in a low speed car accident of around 8 mph, the head can move up to 18 inches in less than a second. Whiplash affects passengers as well as drivers.
The damage, or whiplash, can result in a range of symptoms including neck pain, shoulder pain, restricted neck and/or shoulder movement, tingling or heaviness in the arms, dizziness and, in some whiplash cases, tinnitus. It is very rare for whiplash to cause damage to bones in the neck and whiplash usually affects the strained neck muscles, joints and ligaments. Whiplash injuries are not always apparent immediately after the accident that caused them and it can take time before the extent of any whiplash injuries are fully apparent.
If you have been in an accident that wasn’t your fault, please contact Lawson-West solicitors either by phoning Mikhaila Grant on 0116 212 1143 now, completing one of the on-line forms or text ‘accident’ to 07968 888857 and we’ll call you back.
To assist you in recovery from your whiplash injury we may be able to refer you for a course of physiotherapy and you may be able to claim loss of earnings for any time you have to take off work because of your whiplash. If any passengers in your car have also suffered whiplash in the accident, we can help them too.
Lawson-West make whiplash injury claims on a No Win No Fee basis which means Lawson-West have a vested interest in ensuring your whiplash injury claim is successful.
