Whiplash Injury Claim

When it comes to common car accident injuries, whiplash injury claims have traditionally been at the top of the list in terms of the number people who suffer it each year in motor vehicle accidents where they were not to blame.

A whiplash injury typically affects the area around the neck, shoulders and back. However there are also a number of other road accident injuries that can affect the same area of the body, and that in some cases might be mistaken for whiplash. Some of these injuries can be much more serious than a whiplash injury claim.

Neck injuries with similar symptoms to whiplash

A sudden, sharp impact, of the type which might cause someone a whiplash injury can in some cases cause a more serious injury. An example of this is a damaged or fractured vertebra bone in the neck.

The vertebrae are the bones of the spine, which support the head and provide protection for the spinal cord which runs though the centre of each vertebra. There are seven individual vertebrae in the neck, and the impact of an accident can be enough to cause one or more of them to become fractured.

A fractured vertebra is in an injury with potentially very serious consequences; even a minor hairline fracture might mean having to wear a neck brace for several weeks. A more serious fracture could pose a risk of damage to the spinal cord, and someone with this type of fracture might require surgery to stabilise the bones.

It is not only the individual bones in the neck that can cause an injury that might be mistaken for whiplash. Vertebrae are separated from one another by a disc of cartilage which allows the bones to move smoothly over one another. These cartilage discs can also become damaged or even dislocated by the force of a road accident.

Unlike a fracture or a whiplash injury, the dislocation (or herniation as it is sometimes known) can take place gradually in the months after an accident, becoming steadily more painful and debilitating for the person affected.

Generalised neck pain can often disguise a number of potentially very serious injuries that should be properly diagnosed and treated by a medical professional. For more information on other common neck injuries and the likely compensation figure for these injuries, go to our neck injury compensation guide.