Customer Reviews

The Complete Guide to Whiplash

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Mr. Melton has managed to make the engineering and medical literature on the topic of whiplash not only understandable, but also has presented it in a way that is highly organized and meaningful.

The Complete Guide to Whiplash is truly complete, and is able to separate the good science from the weak science. Fortunately, the latter, or "junk science" as it is known, makes up very little of the total literature out there. Melton does a good job of making this point, a very important one.

When lawyers and doctors confront the problem of whiplash, they often do it in a very superficial way. They, as well as insurance company claims representatives (although you can expect the behaviour in them), unfortunately, have not taken the time to read the available literature. They often succumb to the junk science, which is disseminated in ways to make it appear more important than it is. They fall prey to the great number of myths surrounding whiplash injuries, low speed collisions, and the injured parties themselves.

For example, let's see how many of the following questions you can answer correctly (remember, "low speed" is considered a 12-15 mph or less speed change (delta V) of the struck vehicle):

True or False:

1. Head restraints (head "rests") significantly reduce neck injuries in rear impact motor vehicle collisions.

2. In a typical whiplash-producing collision (rear-end impact), a relaxed person will be less injured than a tensed, braced person.

3. Wearing seatbelts increases the likelihood of neck injuries.

4. Low speed motor vehicle collisions commonly cause low back injuries.

5. Litigation has an effect on prognosis and patient complaints of injury.

6. It is highly unlikely for a person to sustain significant injuries in a motor vehicle collision with little or no vehicle damage.

7. Broadside (side impact) collisions cause more injuries than rear impact collisions at low speeds.

8. MTBI (mild traumatic brain injury) is uncommon in low speed collisions.

9. Symptoms of whiplash injury typically appear in the first few minutes after the collision.

10. Whiplash injuries (WAD) rarely result in chronic pain and are self-limiting.

Answers:

1. False, head restraints are ineffective (IIHS data) 2. False, all the human crash tests show this 3. True, since seatbelts arrived, neck injuries have increased 4. True, the low back is also injured 40% of the time 5. False, litigation has been shown repeatedly to have no effect 6. False, serious injuries occur at speeds of 10 mph delta V 7. False, rear end impacts cause more injuries 8. False, at 8.5 mph there is a 50-50 chance of concussion 9. False, they occur anytime after (avg 72 hrs post-impact) 10. False, about 50% of persons exposed to low-speed rear impact collisions are injured, and 50% of those develop chronic pain. 10% of the injured are permanently disabled.

Surprised? I sure was! Unfortunately, so are many doctors treating the whiplash-injured, and so are the lawyers who are supposed to understand the nature of this injury better than anyone in order to help injured persons fairly.

The fact is, if you doubt the answers to these questions, then you haven't done your homework; you haven't read the studies. What Melton's book does is summarize ALL the research, including the very important research from the past five to ten years. Every personal injury attorney needs this book, and every insurance company lawyer will have nightmares from it, since the well-done science always tells the truth, and the junk science fades away. Doctors with busy schedules will find good, usable information here as well, much needed in this age of managed care.