Whiplash After Being Rear-Ended in Saginaw
Short answer: Whiplash is a strain of the neck's soft tissues caused when a hit from behind throws your head back and forth. Volunteers in a lab study got symptoms from bumps as small as a 2.5 mph speed change. If your neck hurts after a crash, get it examined and graded.
The lab evidence on small bumps
The speed change is how much your own car's speed jumps when it's hit, not how fast the other car was going. Not every study agrees on how badly people are hurt at those speeds, and volunteers know the bump is coming, unlike a real driver waiting at the Bailey Boswell light. The full side-by-side of the studies is in our sources.
How providers grade whiplash
| Grade | In plain words |
|---|---|
| 0 | No neck symptoms, normal exam |
| I | Pain or stiffness, but the exam looks normal |
| II | Pain plus findings like tender spots or less motion |
| III | Pain plus nerve findings: weakness, numbness, changed reflexes |
| IV | A broken or dislocated bone in the neck |
Symptoms
Neck pain and stiffness, headaches at the base of the skull, sore shoulders, dizziness, and tingling into the arms. They often build over the first day or two.
How long it lasts
Some people are better in a few weeks. For many others it lingers: a major review found about half of people with whiplash still had neck pain a year later. Starting with severe pain, or being afraid to move, was linked to slower recovery.
What to do now
See a provider who examines crash injuries regularly, and keep notes on your symptoms. Getting treatment near Saginaw, delayed symptoms, all injuries.
Questions after a Saginaw wreck?
A participating personal injury firm can review your situation for free. It takes about two minutes to ask, wherever in Texas the crash happened.