The Whiplash Syndrome: Pathology and Physical Treatment

Abstract

The "whiplash syndrome" causes acute neck sprain due to rapid motion of the head arising from acceleration/deceleration forces, most often produced following motor vehicle accident, particularly rear-end collisions. Whole cervical spines were removed at post-mortem from 32 subjects. Sixteen of the spines came from subjects who died as a result of motor vehicle accidents while for the remainder, trauma was not the cause of death. Two sectioning methods were used to examine clefts in the anulus fibrosus, for vertebral end-plate lesions, traumatic disc ruptures, facet injuries and for the presence of blood or bruising in the discs or facet joints. Based on the findings of this study, suggestions for treatment of patients with acute damage to the discs and joints of the neck are offered.