Whiplash is most commonly developed from a car accident. It is a relatively common injury that occurs to a person's neck following a sudden acceleration-deceleration force. The term whiplash was first used in the late nineteen twenties. The term whiplash injury describes damage to both the bone structures and soft tissues.

Luckily whiplash is typically not a life threatening injury, but it can lead to a lengthy period of partial disability. There are a lot of economic expenses related to whiplash compensation claims throughout the UK each year including, medical care, disability, sick leave, lost productivity, and litigation.

A lot of people involved in minor car accidents recover quickly without any chronic symptoms, some continue to experience symptoms for years after the accident. Over the years many people have faked the symptoms of whiplash in order to benefit from the whiplash compensation claims using personal injury firms. Many studies have investigated this issue, but unfortunately, while there will always be people willing to attempt to mislead the system for personal gain, however, whiplash is a real condition with real symptoms.

Whiplash is most commonly caused by a car accident where the injured persons car is not moving, and is struck from behind without prior notice. It is commonly thought the rear impact causes the head and neck to be forced into hyperextension as the seat pushes the person's torso forward, and the unrestrained head and neck fall backwards. After a short delay the head and neck then recover and are thrown into a hyperflexed position.
The most common symptoms related to whiplash are neck pain and stiffness, headaches, shoulder pain and stiffness, dizziness, fatigue, jaw pain, arm pain, arm weakness, visual disturbances, ringing in the ears, and back pain.

In chronic cases of whiplash symptoms can involve depression, anger, frustration, anxiety, stress, drug dependency, post-traumatic stress syndrome, sleep disturbance, litigation, and social isolation.

Shortly following an accident the injured person may be taken to the hospital or a doctor, to be checked out. The doctor will examine the injury and determine if they have anything that requires treatment. If the x-rays are normal but the patient continues to have neck pain, the doctor may keep the soft collar in place or suggest a course of physio therapy to help alleviate the pain. At the follow up appointment the doctor may request new x-rays to see if there have been any changes. If the doctor is still concerned about soft tissue injuries, he or she may request either x-rays with the head leaning forward and backwards or obtain an MRI scan. These dynamic x-rays or MRI scans are better able to detect injuries to the soft tissues of the neck, that may not been seen with normal x-rays of the neck.

Treatment of whiplash widely varies depending on the symptoms, what is right for one person is not right for another. The most common initial treatment for whiplash has been a soft cervical collar. The goal of the collar is to reduce the motion of the neck and to prevent any additional injuries. More recent research has shown that more prolonged immobilization actually slows down the healing.

If you have had an accident and are suffering from whiplash the best solution to help aid your recovery is to find a no win no fee solicitor using a personal injury firms and claim whiplash compensation claim. An accident requiring compensation can happen in lots of different ways and places, and more often than not it was not your fault.