Citation

States JD. Proc. Am. Assoc. Automot. Med. Annu. Conf. 1985; 29: 166-168.

Affiliation

Department of Orthopaedics, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, USA

Copyright

(Copyright © 1985, Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The authors of this paper, "Neck Injury to Car Occupants Using Safety Belts" are to be complimented for making this injury and injury mechanism known to the research community.

Definitions are important and vital to any discussion of soft tissue injuries of the neck and cervical spine region. I prefer to use the term acute strain of the cervical spine to identify injuries of the neck which are the result of sudden motion resulting in bending of the spine. The word acute is important to relate the onset of symptoms to the energy input event. However, the onset of pain, stiffness, headache and other symptoms may be delayed up to 48 hours. In my own studies and in my clinical experience, the onset of symptoms is delayed up to 24 hours in nearly one half of neck injured patients.