Comparison of frontal and rear-end impacts for car occupants with whiplash-associated disorders: symptoms and clinical findings

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Bunketorp, Olle¹; Jakobsson, Lotta²; Norin, Hans²

Comparison of frontal and rear-end impacts for car occupants with whiplash-associated disorders: symptoms and clinical findings

Proceedings of the 2004 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Impact

Affiliations

¹The Traffic Injury Register, Department of Orthopaedics, Sahlgrenska Academy, Göteborg University, Sweden

²Volvo Car Corporation, Sweden
Abstract and keywords

Rear-end impacts caused worse initial symptoms and specific clinical findings, not clearly distinguished from those occurring after frontal impacts. WAD III injuries, retro-orbital pain, and isolated contra-directional pro-/retraction pain occurred more frequently after rear-end impacts, indicating the importance of shear loads and craniocervical junction vulnerability. Head inward rotation during rearend impacts caused a more restricted mobility in the same direction at the primary examination than did outward rotation, indicating a possible influence from the shoulder part of the seat belt. The oneyear outcome was mainly influenced by individual factors and less by the impact characteristics.

Keywords: whiplash; rear-end impacts; frontal impacts; accident investigation; clinical findings

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Cited By (1)

Year	Entry
2005	Bunketorp O, Gustafsson Y, Wenneberg B, Jakobsson L, Norin H. Symptoms and signs indicating temporomandibular disorders after cervical acceleration-deceleration trauma in car impacts. In: Proceedings of the 2005 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Impact. September 21-23, 2005; Prague, Czech Republic.419-422.