Whiplash Injury: Complications

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 hematomabruise 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).