The study I've been alluding to comes from Emergency Medicine Journal which is considered a credible journal which accepts articles backed with much research.
(i.
e.
this isn't another one of those junk science articles funded by people with a vested interest!) Before I tell you about this study, we need to back up a bit so that we can discuss typical recovery time for whiplash in adults - then we'll get to the kids.
Time Needed to Recover: Most available studies have proved that 45% of adult whiplash victims remained symptomatic at 12 weeks and 25% remained symptomatic at 6 months.
The most minor cases needed at least 8 weeks to recover.
The time needed to stabilize in the more severe cases took 17 weeks.
Thus the often declared notion that "Whiplash Injuries Heal In 6 To 8 Weeks" is not very accurate! Which brings me now to kids and whiplash...
Children, automobiles and whiplash.
It's no fairy tale story...
Youngsters who have experienced whiplash (or whiplash type injuries) have been repeatedly shown to display sleep disturbances and nightmares; difficulties talking to parents and friends; mood disturbances; poor academic performance; and specific fears when it came to impact related play.
Further, children who have been involved in motor vehicle accidents are often neglected as having had any various types of injury when in actuality, they frequently suffer from the same symptoms as adults - it's just they are unable to clearly enunciate their pain and symptoms as clearly as the adults.
And it probably makes some sense that they at a greater risk for damages in general, and especially when it comes to whiplash.
Ok, now let's get to the study...
This study (Boyd, Massey, Duane & Yates.
Whiplash associated disorder in children attending the emergency department.
Emergency Medical Journal 2002; 19: 311-313) tracked 105 children involved in automobile collisions during an eight-month period of time.
All subjects were between the ages of four and sixteen.
Data collection took place at the 5, 14, 28, and 56-day mark after the crash.
Here is what they discovered: 47% of subjects showed symptoms with 40 of the children rated with Grade I symptoms, i.
e.
complaint of pain on motion but no pain on physical examination) and 9 rated Grade II symptoms, i.
e.
complaint of pain on motion with pain on physical examination).
60% of the subjects with whiplash symptoms reported pain immediately after the crash, with 40% reporting the onset of symptoms the following day.
Sound familiar? Similar to adult onset.
In addition, no correlation was found to exist between age and whiplash symptoms.
This is significant because as we've reported here, many other studies have examined this relationship in whiplash involving adults.
Equally interesting, children identified with Grade I level symptoms allegedly recovered in 2-18 days after the collision, while those with Grade II symptom recovered in 2-62 days after the fact.
People are finding this study important for a number of reasons...
First, the author's methodology is strikingly similar to the methodology used in adult onset studies.
This lends credibility to their work.
And, the findings are fairly consistent with those involving adults.
To quote this study: "Such high rates of WAD [Whiplash Related Disorder] were unexpected given the paucity of previously published evidence and does suggest a hidden incidence that may not be being recorded in children presenting after car crashes.
" The studies conclusion is that children are indeed at risk for whiplash.
Perhaps the missing link in this study is that researchers did not record psychological symptoms after the collision.
According to the authors, "Recent work has shown that children are susceptible to and do experience significant psychological trauma after being involved in a car crash.
"
(i.
e.
this isn't another one of those junk science articles funded by people with a vested interest!) Before I tell you about this study, we need to back up a bit so that we can discuss typical recovery time for whiplash in adults - then we'll get to the kids.
Time Needed to Recover: Most available studies have proved that 45% of adult whiplash victims remained symptomatic at 12 weeks and 25% remained symptomatic at 6 months.
The most minor cases needed at least 8 weeks to recover.
The time needed to stabilize in the more severe cases took 17 weeks.
Thus the often declared notion that "Whiplash Injuries Heal In 6 To 8 Weeks" is not very accurate! Which brings me now to kids and whiplash...
Children, automobiles and whiplash.
It's no fairy tale story...
Youngsters who have experienced whiplash (or whiplash type injuries) have been repeatedly shown to display sleep disturbances and nightmares; difficulties talking to parents and friends; mood disturbances; poor academic performance; and specific fears when it came to impact related play.
Further, children who have been involved in motor vehicle accidents are often neglected as having had any various types of injury when in actuality, they frequently suffer from the same symptoms as adults - it's just they are unable to clearly enunciate their pain and symptoms as clearly as the adults.
And it probably makes some sense that they at a greater risk for damages in general, and especially when it comes to whiplash.
Ok, now let's get to the study...
This study (Boyd, Massey, Duane & Yates.
Whiplash associated disorder in children attending the emergency department.
Emergency Medical Journal 2002; 19: 311-313) tracked 105 children involved in automobile collisions during an eight-month period of time.
All subjects were between the ages of four and sixteen.
Data collection took place at the 5, 14, 28, and 56-day mark after the crash.
Here is what they discovered: 47% of subjects showed symptoms with 40 of the children rated with Grade I symptoms, i.
e.
complaint of pain on motion but no pain on physical examination) and 9 rated Grade II symptoms, i.
e.
complaint of pain on motion with pain on physical examination).
60% of the subjects with whiplash symptoms reported pain immediately after the crash, with 40% reporting the onset of symptoms the following day.
Sound familiar? Similar to adult onset.
In addition, no correlation was found to exist between age and whiplash symptoms.
This is significant because as we've reported here, many other studies have examined this relationship in whiplash involving adults.
Equally interesting, children identified with Grade I level symptoms allegedly recovered in 2-18 days after the collision, while those with Grade II symptom recovered in 2-62 days after the fact.
People are finding this study important for a number of reasons...
First, the author's methodology is strikingly similar to the methodology used in adult onset studies.
This lends credibility to their work.
And, the findings are fairly consistent with those involving adults.
To quote this study: "Such high rates of WAD [Whiplash Related Disorder] were unexpected given the paucity of previously published evidence and does suggest a hidden incidence that may not be being recorded in children presenting after car crashes.
" The studies conclusion is that children are indeed at risk for whiplash.
Perhaps the missing link in this study is that researchers did not record psychological symptoms after the collision.
According to the authors, "Recent work has shown that children are susceptible to and do experience significant psychological trauma after being involved in a car crash.
"
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