Whiplash is a type of injury to the spinal cord due to sudden movement of one’s head, either backward or forward. A whiplash neck injury is very commonly associated with motor vehicles accident, generally when they hit in the rear side of the person. According to the statistics, around 430000 people of UK claimed for whiplash in the year 2007. That amounts to 75% of the total motor insurance claims of the country. That alone speaks volumes about the need for understanding whiplash injuries and all that is associated with it.

Types

The Quebeck Task force (QTF) divides whiplash into five categories, namely: Grade 0, 1, 2, 3 and 4. Each one differs from the other in terms of levels of suffering. Grade 0 implies no neck pain, no stiffness and no physical sign of any kind. Grade 1 implies neck pain, stiffness and tenderness only with no other signs.

Grade 2 points to neck pain and point tenderness in the neck with decreased range of motion. The next grade means neck pains with neurological issues of deep tendon reflexes and weakness. The last grade implies neck pain associated with dislocation or fracture and/or injury to spinal cord.

Occurrence

As said before, whiplash injuries are most commonly associated with street accidents. The most common case is when the vehicle collides from the back. The kinetic energy of the car will cause the person to move his head against the foreign stimuli and the head does so...once forward and backward at the next moment. The movement will occur in extremely short time (say 1/10th of a second even for a car at low velocity). This sudden and fast movement attacks the spinal region, which then subjects to an injury.

Claims

The UK law states that if a person is subjected to any kind of injury following a road accident where the person is not responsible for it, he/she will be able to claim for whiplash compensation if the accident took place less than three years ago; although it is not as simple as it sounds.

There are various variations of whiplash compensations and whiplash claims and the best way to deal with these things is to contact a professional claim solicitor. The most common two types of whiplash injury compensations are: general damage and special damage, where the later is the damage for loss of earnings.

There are various methods to claims also: to the insurance company, to the person responsible for the accident and injury etc.

There are claim organisations that can help you through the entire procedure of whiplash compensation. Some of them are free, some charges. But be aware of the ones that cost hidden fees. Consider options like No Win No Pay or such other whiplash compensation claim organisations.