An Examination of Reasons for Prolonged Treatment in Japanese Patients with Whiplash Injuries

Objectives: There is disagreement over the roles of biological and psycho-social factors in the prolongation of whiplash symptoms. The issue of whether differences in recovery time result from differences in the severity of physical injury or from non-physiological social variables, such as insurance compensation, remains unresolved. We examined, for one year, the circumstances of Japanese receiving treatment who had been in rear-end collisions during a specified time period, and were presumed to have whiplash injuries.Methods: Subjects were 6,167 adults over 20 years of age who had been examined at an emergency center or a general hospital for symptoms such as neck pain presumed to be the result of cervical hyperextension caused by rear-end collision. No abnormalities were detected by neurological examinations, nor by X-rays. Data collected included the following items: gender, age, area of residence, date of accident, date of initial examination, occupation, seat belt use, whether they were driver or pa...