What Insurance Companies Don't Want You

To Know About Whiplash Injuries

Amount of car damage doesn't equate to severity of injury.

Hi, I'm Dr. Harlan Mittag. If you've been in a low impact automobile accident I have some important information to give you in the next couple minutes.

It's common for anyone who has been in an auto accident to downplay their injuries (even if they're hurting quite a bit) because there wasn't much damage to their car.

I've seen my patients fall victim to this notion for years. And I've also seen auto insurance companies use it as an argument to cut off treatment for patients, even though they know better.

The truth is the auto insurance companies are a business like any other business. And like any other business their real interest is their bottom line. So they'll do what they can to discourage accident victims from spending too much insurance company money.

So what are the facts? If you had a minor accident, is it possible that you were injured?

Well don't take my word for it. Let's here what the scientists and researchers have to say.

Let me quote Rene Calliet, MD, author of 17 textbooks on musculoskeletal disorders that have sold over 1.2 million copies.

This is from his book "Low Impact Collisions and Injury, published in 2006.

He says, "a low-speed impact with minimal or no damage to the impacted vehicle can and does cause significant musculoskeletal injury to the driver's or occupant's head and neck." That was on page 4.

On page 87 he says, "Numerous injuries result from vehicular accidents even when

the impacts are not very big and there is minimal damage to both vehicles."

On page 100 he says "In many instances, a person experiences whiplash after a

vehicle accident that has caused little significant damage to either vehicle."

I'm going to read you some quotes from a study in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, the July 2009 edition. This study was actually a review study that evaluated and summarized 100 studies of whiplash. Two of the author's, Gargan and Bannister are probably the most published researchers in history in the area of auto accident injuries.

Here's some of what they concluded from their review:

• 90% of all road-traffic collisions occur at speeds less than 14 mph and "it is in

these that whiplash occurs."

• Patients who sustain low-velocity whiplash injuries often will have more pain

than those who sustain a fracture.

• Because women have a thinner less rigid neck they have twice the whiplashinjury

rate as men.

There's more, but I'm running out of time. The point here is that even if you had minimal damage to your vehicle, it doesn't mean that you weren't injured.

If you were in an auto accident, it's important to get evaluated soon. Don't wait. If you want more information on whiplash injuries, treatment options and good attorneys, check out my website.

Thanks.

Dr. Harlan Mittag, D.C.