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What is whiplash?

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Many people can suffer whiplash injuries due to slips or even small car crashes. So what are they?

Pick up a length of rope at one end and flick it. The ripple you create will run down the rope to the other end. That end will flick up as the energy you put in finds its way out. Do the same thing with a whip, thick at one end and thin at the other. Here the speed of the ripple increases as the material thins so that the final flick is incredibly fast. When it is fast enough, it makes a loud crack as it breaks the sound barrier.

The same effect occurs when the human spine is jolted. The spine is an “s” shape anyway and when the body is thrust forward and then back again it sets off a ripple down the spine. Often when a car runs into or bumps the back of another, the drivers will both suffer whiplash.

The driver hit from behind will often suffer the most as the neck is more able and used to moving forwards than back. The jolt from behind jolts the neck back and then the body automatically reacts by jolting forwards.

The high speed movement is likely to cause injuries at any point of the spine. In addition, the head will be jolted like the end of the whip and the brain will be sent to hit the skull at high speed. The effect can occur from anything including a simple slip on the ice.

The effects are likely to include headaches up to more serious damage to the bone or nerves of the spine. The period of damage can be from a minimum of a few days upwards.

After suffering any such injury expert Orthopedic advice she be sought immediately.

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