My Favorite Metallica Song…Whiplash

Everyday thousands are injured in auto accidents that they seem to “walk away from” with little to no visible vehicle damage. They erroneously assume that since the car is barley damaged, then they aren’t either. But that’s just not true.  In a large German study of injury producing rear-impact collisions, nearly half were under 6 mph, the same goes for a recent study in New York. Sometimes the pain is immediate and sometimes it may take up to 6 months or longer to surface. While numerous theories have been advanced to explain this delay, no one knows for certain.

Whiplash actually describes the mechanism of injury, not the disease (true whiplash is a rear-end only phenomena); but has become to be known as the broad range of disorders, lesions, syndromes and conditions associated with auto accidents. Those include, but aren’t limited to the usual neck pain, but also: TMJ pain, dizziness, hearing and eyesight problems, ringing in the ears along with breathing problems, stomach pain, post-traumatic stress, back pain, thoracic outlet, carpal tunnel, weakness, herniated discs, sciatica and the list just keeps going and going. A rear-end accident is not the only way to get hurt, just the most common.

So what happens when you’re in an accident? You do your best imitation of a crash test dummy. A lot of it has to do with the laws of physics-energy cannot be created or destroyed, only transferred from one system to the next; and energy follows the path of least resistance. So a 4000 pound car going 5 miles per hour is generating 4000 X 5= a lot of energy. And it is following along the easiest path…you. It causes your spine to hyperextend vertically then horizontally and to then hyperflex; ripping, tearing, squishing and smashing tissues along the way; all in under a second or two.

In short-if you had an accident, no matter what the car looks like, you’re hurt; and need help. I’m the one to do that.