Legal Specs

Whiplash Claims Affected By New Research

08 Jul 2008

Recent Swedish research by online medicinal journal PLoS Medicine has found that whiplash, the head and back injury which results in countless whiplash claims every year, is more likely to heal faster with the aid of positive thinking.

Whiplash injuries are most often experienced as the result of a car crash, the injury is minor but can cause pain in sufferers for weeks. It is caused by a sudden jerk-like reaction of the neck during a violet crash, and it can lead to momentary paralysis of the neck and head area, as well as prolonged head, neck and back pains and at times even blurred vision is suffered on top of other, more common, symptoms.

PLoS researches recruited 1000 male and female recent sufferers of whiplash for the study. The volunteers were asked to rate their chances of making a complete recovery. Six months later, they were given questionnaires to determine how much the lingering pain from the accident limited their daily activities, ranging from doing household chores to engaging in social activities.

"The lower their expectations [of getting better], the higher the disability," said the lead author of the study, Lena Holm at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm.

It was recorded that 95% of the experiment participants returned to work after the whiplash injury, meaning it is unlikely for individuals to make false claims regarding prolonged pain in order to receive long-term disability insurance.

Dr. Holm has speculated that if patients truly believe a treatment will work, some of them will report an improvement in their condition even if given a dummy pill – also known as the placebo effect.

On the other hand, chances of recovery can be impeded by "fear-avoidance behaviour," she added. Patients may curb their activities because it initially hurts to move, an approach that may be counterproductive in the long run. "If you don't remain mobile ... you have less possibility of recovery and might actually get more pain."

Dr. Holm believes people could benefit from more patient education and positive reinforcement at the time of their injury. "People are really afraid of whiplash," she explains, 'They need to be informed by health professionals that most people can expect to recover within a few months.'

The news has been welcomed by insurance companies who are hoping this will result in a decrease of prolonged disability claims which can be very costly to them. However there is also hope that the new 'positive thinking' method will not lead to a lack of preventive action.

Not only is prevention beneficial to insurance companies which earn from the preventive needs of individuals, it is also an important safety precaution which must not go ignored. While whiplash is for the most part the cause of only minor injuries, in as much as 5% of cases it has led to people being unable to continue to work, PLoS has found.

So while placebo worked in the majority of cases, statistics show some cases of whiplash resulted i grave repercussions. This fact should not be ignored when purchasing insurance – make sure yours covers whiplash claims satisfactorily.

A good whiplash insurance cover should, most importantly, offer cover for cases of prolonged pain and injury where employment has had to be interrupted. This is crucial as your prolonged disability insurance could become your chief source of income during your period of recovery (which may result longer than you had at first predicted). It is, as is always the case when purchasing insurance, best to compare different deals offered by the various companies as you might find some are more catered towards your lifestyle and circumstances than others.

Sofia is an author of several articles pertaining to No Win No Fee, Compensation Claims, Whiplash Claims, Personal Injury Claims and other legal articles.