Length of Recovery

Whiplash injuries are the injuries that are most commonly related to real-end collisions of vehicles, side or frontal impacts and other kinds of accidents that can produce alike injuries. In a typical rear-impact vehicle collision, the body get propelled forward, the head of the person remains in the original position then before the muscles of the neck can relax for allowing motion, head moves backward abruptly, usually farther than the standard range of its motion. After this, the rebound action takes place when the body suddenly stops and the momentum forces the neck and head forward. The injury in itself is a stress or tear of soft tissues present in the neck caused due to its forceful and sudden movement. Sometimes, whiplash symptoms occur immediately while in other cases, the injury gets recognised even after days of the accident.
 
The length of recovery depends upon various factors including the seriousness of the injury, how soon it has been attended to and what type of treatment has been applied to the injury. In some cases, the physician protects the cervical spine allowing it to rest. Using cold packs, a cervical collar and cervical pillow can help the patient in being reasonably comfortable and properly supported. Once your neck gets sufficiently healed, the doctor may suggest you to perform some at-home rehabilitation exercises which help in building up stability, helping in healing of ligaments and mobilising tight and stiff joints. In the long run, they help in stabilising the joints of the spine and improve their function. In some patients, the recovery process from whiplash can even be more than 2 weeks when the patient still has pain in his or her neck. Within a year of the injury, around 64% of the patients get fully recovered while others who had longer length of recovery were victims of high neck pain in the initial stage of the injury, disability to do work, difficulty in sleeping and had a high level of somatisation. The recovery period may range from 4 weeks and 12 weeks to even 52 weeks. The physical, psychological and socio-demographic factors also affect the time taken by a person to heal completely. The recovery process also depends upon the intensity of the injury and the type of work that the person does in his or her daily routine. According to a recent study, aggressive treatment in the early period of the injury also encourages use of some passive coping strategies, thus enhancing the period of recovery from whiplash.

Obviously compensation claims can be very complicated and it would be unwise to attempt to pursue a claim without professional assistance which should be provided by a solicitor with expertise in this field. Excalibur Solicitors is a specialist personal injury practice dealing with all types of injury claims such as road accidents, accidents at work, accidents in public places, medical negligence. If you have been injured in the last three years and require advice on your potential compensation claim we can provide a free legal assessment of your case if you complete our Application Form. We operate on a "No Win No Fee" basis at no cost to you.

The information in this article is designed to provide general information only. Whilst every effort has been made to ensure that the information provided is accurate, it does not constitute legal or other professional advice.