WHIPLASH - how does it happen?

Before you can truly understand the symptoms you're suffering from as a result of your whiplash injury, you need to understand how whiplash is caused.

Dr. Mark Frobb's book, "Surviving Whiplash - Saving Your Neck Without Losing You Mind", describes a whiplash injury as consisting of two seperate phases:

" Phase 1: forward acceleration of the torso and shoulders with a delayed forward acceleration of the head and neck.

  Phase 2: the resulting 'whip' of the head and neck as it follows the initial forward movement of the torso and shoulders."

 Dr. Frobb goes on to indicate that in the first phase, "... the shoulder and torso of the traveling passengers in the struck vehicle are pushed forward. The head and neck remain relatively stationary at the back of the seat, creating a stretching of the anterior muscles of the front of the neck."

As far as the second phase is concerned Dr. Frobb says, "... the head and neck begin their forward journey as they are flung forward in a whip-like phenomenon, after which the injury was originally named."

The thing that you need to understand about these two phases of  a whiplash injury is that they both are completed within milliseconds.

Want to find out more about your whiplash injury and how to best deal with your symptoms ?

Stay tuned !