The following are the most important diseases or complications that can be caused by whiplash:
Cardiovascular system (I00-I99)
- Apoplexy (stroke)-two weeks after head or neck trauma in patients younger than 50 years in 0.04%; in 37% of cases, the apoplexy occurred on the day of the accident; one-fourth of cases had unremarkable angiography of the cerebral vessels (visualization of arteries and veins using contrast medium) after the accident in this setting
- Vertebral artery shear-off syndrome – splitting of the artery supplying the spine.
- Internal carotid artery dissection – splitting of the artery supplying the brain.
Ears – mastoid process (H60-H95).
- Hearing disorders
- Tinnitus (ringing in the ears)
Psyche – nervous system (F00-F99; G00-G99)
- Nerve damage
- Temporary or persistent impairment of exiting nerve roots (C2 to C8), e.g., due to traumatic disc protrusion (disc bulge), prolapse (disc herniation), or herniation (rare)
- Strain of peripheral nerve structures, such as the brachial plexus (brachial plexus) or single nerves (rare)
Symptoms and abnormal clinical and laboratory findings not elsewhere classified (R00-R99).
- Cephalgia (headache)
- Dysphagia (difficulty swallowing)
- Vertigo (dizziness)
Injuries, poisonings, and other sequelae of external causes (S00-T98).
- Atlantooccipital dislocation – displacement of first cervical vertebra and skull bone.
- Intervertebral disc injuries, unspecified
- Commotio spinalis (spinal cord concussion).
- Compressio spinalis (spinal cord compression)
- Contusio spinalis (spinal cord contusion)
- Dens axis fracture – fracture of the second cervical vertebra.
- Retropharyngeal hematoma – bruise localized between the cervical spine and the posterior pharyngeal wall.
- Spinal cord injury, unspecified
- Traumatic brain injury (TBI)
- Spinal nerve injuries
- Vertebral body fractures (fractures of the vertebral body)
- Vertebral arch fractures (vertebral arch fractures)
- Vertebral joint process fractures
- Vertebral luxation (dislocation of the vertebrae)
- Paraplegia
Further
- Concentration and memory disorders
- Painfulness of the temporomandibular joints
Prognostic factors
Mechanisms of pain chronification
- Operant reinforcement, for example, by dysfunctional behavioral patterns of the patient (sparing behavior).
- Anxiety or pre-existing anxiety disorder or increased anxiety sensitivity.
Complaint-prolonging
- Female sex
- High age
- Pressure and spontaneous painfulness of the neck/neck muscles
- High initial pain intensity
- Numbness and pain radiating from the neck to the arms
- Psychological factors (chronic pain syndromes, depression or somatization disorders of the history, anxiety or stress-related symptoms).