10 - Whiplash-associated disorders

Previous accounts used different terms – whiplash injury, hyperextension injury, acceleration injury, soft tissue neck injury, cervical strain, cervical sprain – to describe the lesion that may occur after and the consequences of a typical car accident: a rear-end motor vehicle collision. When a vehicle is struck from the rear, the occupants rarely have any warning and do not brace the muscles to prevent head movement. As a result, the body is propelled forwards and the neck hyperextends backwards well beyond the normal range of allowable movement (Fig. 10.1). This violent motion is followed by a less rapid forwards recoil into flexion that can often result in a head injury if the head impinges on the windscreen. Although rear-end impacts are most common and result in hyperextension–hyperflexion injuries, other types of car accident may also cause whiplash-type injuries and, in any trauma, complex head and neck movements may occur, leading to different lesions that resemble whiplash.