What Is Whiplash?
Whiplash is a neck injury that occurs when your head moves backward and forward very quickly, usually as a result of a forceful impact. This whip-like movement of your head and neck tears and stretches the tendons and muscles in your neck.
The severity of whiplash can vary widely. For some, the symptoms of whiplash disappear after a few weeks. For others, this neck injury can lead to chronic whiplash pain that can sometimes be debilitating.
How Do I Know If I Have Whiplash?
If you have been in an accident, look for the following common symptoms of whiplash:
- Stiffness and pain in your neck
- Headaches
- Difficulty moving your neck
- Pain that gets worse when you move your neck
- Pain in the upper back, arms, and shoulders
- Dizziness
Some less common symptoms of whiplash to watch for include ringing in the ears, blurry vision, trouble concentrating, and sleep problems.
For many whiplash victims, the effects of their neck injury do not show themselves until days after the initial accident. With their whiplash symptoms delayed, how are these accident victims to know whether their new pains are related to their accident or something else entirely?
If you think you might have whiplash after an auto accident or other high-impact incident, seek immediate medical care. A doctor can tell you how severe your injury is and check for other injuries that could cause immediate threats to your health, such as concussions. Also, seeing a doctor will create a medical record of your neck injury that can be used to support your case if you later seek to recover whiplash injury compensation from the person who caused your accident.
Learn how compensation for whiplash works.