Medical care extends whiplash, claim researchers

The number of people having to make whiplash claims following road accidents has risen dramatically in the past 10 years. Although this is in part due to the introduction of no win, no fee agreements making personal injury compensation more accessible, some researchers believe that the increase in whiplash claims may be linked to methods of treatment for the neck injury.

In years gone by, patients were often dismissed by their general practitioner, perhaps with the advice to rest and take some pain killers for any neck pain that they were experiencing. However, doctors now tend to take people complaining of whiplash injuries much more seriously than they used to and send them to chiropractors and other specialists to aid recovery.

Toronto study into whiplash recovery
A study by the University of Toronto has revealed that these treatments may actually be prolonging the pain and suffering that people are experiencing with their neck injury, prompting them to make whiplash claims for both loss of earnings from weeks off work and the cost of medical expenses.

The researchers looked at the recovery times of more than 1,500 people with whiplash injuries and found that those who had visited their doctor more than twice or who had been given specialist chiropractic treatment tended to recover more slowly than those who did not receive more medical care.

The authors of the study explained that this may be because patients are coming to rely upon the medical assistance they are receiving, which in turn leads them to believe that whiplash is a long-term, disabling injury.

However, the results of this study may have an alternative explanation. It may be that those who made repeated trips to their doctor had suffered a more serious whiplash injury than those who only needed to go once, and so it would naturally take these patients longer to recover. Similarly, those whose injuries are considered severe enough to warrant specialist treatment are also logically more likely to have a longer period of recovery. It is then these people who need to make whiplash claims for their severe neck injury.

Making a cost-free whiplash claim
If you are one of the many thousands of people to have suffered whiplash in a car accident within the last three years, and you wish to claim personal injury compensation, YouClaim may well be able to help you make a whiplash claim.

We have a panel of personal injury solicitors with specialist knowledge of whiplash claims. Experts in the field and governed by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, you couldn't ask for anyone more skilled to be handling your compensation claim.

You will not have to pay our panel of no win, no fee solicitors anything at any time, even in the unlikely event that your whiplash claim is not successful. We also promise to make no deductions from any personal injury compensation awarded, so you go home with 100% compensation.

If you would like to make a whiplash claim and would like us to assess your case, please get in touch today. It is absolutely free to contact us; telephone freephone on 0800 10 757 95, leave us a call-back request or chat confidentially online via e-chat.