Long Term outlook on Car Accident Treatment
Risk Factors
To review, we’ve covered two risk factors for getting injured in a rear ended car accident. One is Awareness of the impending crash. The other is the amount of G forces produced at 5mph.
Today’s article looks at another important risk factor. The position of the people in the vehicle at the time of the accident. Studies show that people seated in the front of the car are hurt more often than people sitting in the rear seat. No explanation is given as to why.
References
1. Parmar HV, Raymakers R: Neck injuries from rear impact road traffic accidents: prognosis in persons seeking compensation. Injury 24(2):75-78.
- Otte D, Rether JR: Risks and mechanisms of injuries to the cervical spine in traffic accidents. International IRCOBI/AAAM Conference on the Bio-mechanics of Impact, Göteborg, Sweden, 17-31, 1985.
- Kihlberg JK: Flexion-torsion neck injury in rear impacts. Proceedings of 13th Annual Conference of the American Association for Automotive Medicine, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1-16, 1969.
- States JD, Balcerak JD, Williams JS, et al.: Injury frequency and head restraint effectiveness in rear end impact accidents. In Proceedings of 16th Stapp Car Crash Conference, Detroit, MI, 228-257, 1972.
- Carlsson G, Nilsson S, Nilsson-Ehle A, et al.: Neck injuries in rear-end car collisions: Bio-mechanical considerations to improve head restraints. International IRCOBI/AAAM Conference on the Bio-mechanics of Impacts, Göteborg, Sweden, 277-289, 1995.
- Otremski I, Marsh JL, Wilde BR, et al.: Soft tissue cervical spinal injuries in motor vehicle accidents. Injury 20:349-351, 1989.
Risk Factor Variation
Having your head looking off to the side instead of looking straight ahead is another risk factor. When your head is turned, the openings between the bones get smaller. These openings are where the nerves go through. This is a position to probable injury. It’s not hard to understand that in this position you could get hurt, even at low speeds.
References.
In 2000 Winkelstein BA, Nightingale RW, Richardson WJ, Myers BS. found the cervical facet capsule injury was significantly high during acceleration / deceleration or whiplash injuries – A bio mechanical investigation. Spine 25:1238-1246, 2000.
1. Winkelstein BA, Nightingale RW, Richardson WJ, Myers BS. Cervical Facet Joint Mechanics: Its Application to Whiplash Injury. In Proceedings of the 43rd Stapp Car Crash Conference 99SC15, 1999, 243-252.
2. Winkelstein BA, Nightingale RW, Richardson WJ, Myers BS. The cervical facet capsule and its role in whiplash injury – A bio mechanical investigation. Spine 25:1238-1246, 2000.
- Radanov BP, Sturzenegger M, Stefano GD: Long-term outcome after whiplash injury: a two-year follow-up considering features of injury mechanism and somatic, radio logic, and psycho social factors. Medicine 74(5):281-297, 1995.
Conclusion
Getting hit from the rear position seems to be the worst possible way to crash. There have been over 50 papers published in the last 46 years that Proves the poor outcomes of people injured in rear end car accidents. This table samples just a few of those papers and shows the percentage of people with who live with chronic injuries.
Table of Studies
| LONG – TERM OUTCOME OF CAD INJURIES | |||||
| Author | Date | # in study | Follow-up ( yrs) | Chronic (%) | |
| Ellertsson et al. (123) | 1978 | 100 | 1.5 | 12 | |
| Norris & Watt (242) 3 | 1983 | 6 | 2 | 44-90 | |
| Olsson et al. (192) 5 | 1990 | 33 | 1 | 41 | |
| Watkinson et al. (249) | 1991 | 35 | 10.8 | 86 | |
| Parmar & Raymakers | 1993 | 100 | 8 | 55 | |
| Gargan & Bannister | 1994 | 50 | 2 | 62 | |
| Borchgrevink et al. | 1996 | 345 | >2.5 | 58 | |
| Squires et al. | 1996 | 40 | 15.5 | 70 | |
| Gargan et al. | 1997 | 52 | 2 | 64 | |
| Brison et al. | 2000 | 353 | 2 | 36 | |
Treatment
Dr. Robert Ebeling is a Chiropractor in Englewood. If you or someone you know has been injured in a car crash, call the office at (303) 377-1755 for a free consultation and evaluation. He specializes in the treatment of people injured this way.