- 3-5% of all persons exposed to a whiplash injury mechanism following a motor vehicle collision develop acute whiplash injury symptoms within 0-3 days.
- The most common symptoms of acute whiplash are neck pain and stiffness (80% of the 3-5% who develop symptoms) and headache.
- There is no documented evidence supporting a causal relationship between type or grade of injury and specific symptoms or symptom constellations.
- A minority of patients (10% of the 3-5% who develop symptoms) develop chronic complaints that have a considerable impact on their level of functioning.
- The clinical characteristics with respect to the development of chronic symptoms are unclear.
- Objective signs are far from specific and are not robust enough to lead one to common patho-physiological mechanisms for "chronic whiplash-syndrome".
- Evidence-based documentation has not been found to support the contention that chronic complaints following a whiplash injury mechanism are specific or are directly related to the actual injury mechanism.
- We are thus left with an incomplete diagnostic explanation for this condition and thus stress the need for further research in this area. Also necessary is an increased knowledge of the normal physiology of the neck and the general development of chronic pain.
