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Evaluation of Whiplash Injuries

The most important first step is to make sure there is no major injury to the neck, head or the rest of the body requiring emergency treatment by seeking care at a hospital or appropriate clinic.  Once this is established, conservative care can begin.

Unfortunately, if there seems to be no emergency attention needed, many people do not seek medical attention after they experience a MVC. Whether they do this out of embarrassment or because they feel that their crash was not significant enough to cause any injury, not doing so can be a mistake.

This is important because statistics show that symptoms may not be noticed for several hours, days or even weeks after the crash.

Those that do seek attention frequently are written off as having an insignificant problem and may or may not have appropriate tests performed.

Ideally what should happen is the patient should have a full detailed history taken of the event so to better understand the mechanism of injury and how to best address it. Other tests, such as orthopedic tests, neurological, and muscle function tests should be performed and of course a comprehensive x-ray series of the neck should be performed to check for abnormal changes.

If need be an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging study) or CT (Computer Tomography) scan may be ordered so as to detect injuries to the soft tissues (muscles, ligament, tendons, discs) of the neck.