Because whiplash has been linked to automobile accidents for so many decades, victims of whiplash-associated disorders have chosen to spread some of the misinformation that gets repeated in various myths. The insurance industry has seen no reason for denying the veracity of such myths. Consequently, this article will seek to accomplish that yet-to-be-completed task.
The first myth that fails to present the truth:
If the victim of a car accident has a sprain or strain in his or her neck or back, a wait and see approach works to ensure the desired results. In other words, the victim should wait to see what happens, before visiting any doctor. Data does not support the veracity of that myth. An exam by a doctor can be used to support a later claim, if certain complications or other medial issues enter the picture. In addition, an initial exam can be pointed to as the first step towards obtaining a treatment.
The second myth that cannot be called truthful:
A lack of pain indicates that there is no problem. That is incorrect, because it can take time for a painful problem to develop. Not every symptom gets observed and identified as soon as it manifests itself.
A personal injury lawyer in Spruce Grove knows that sometimes a victim of whiplash starts to get headaches more than 1 week after the accident. At that point, it might be hard to connect the symptom (headache) with the cause (accident). After all, almost all of us suffer a headache when stressed or tired.
The third myth that manages to cloud the truth:
Whenever there has been little or limited damage to the driver’s vehicle, it seems unlikely that someone in the same vehicle might have suffered a whiplash-associated disorder. The amount of damage noted on a steel vehicle cannot be used as a way to measure the degree of force on those inside of that same vehicle.
Whiplash results from the force placed on the neck at the time of a collision. That force can strain the neck and shoulder muscles. It can also cause the brain to hit the inside of the skull. A huge force on a car with thick steel walls might not do lots of damage to that same vehicle, but it could harm anyone inside of that same vehicle.
Furthermore, if the brain does hit the side of the skull, the resulting damage can prove hard to detect. Today, utilization of a CT scan or an MRI proves capable of detecting such a problem. Yet in the past, when all of these myths first came into existence, only one very painful and seldom-used test could detect any harm to the brain, as the result of an accident.