Car Accident? You May Be Injured and Not Know It
A car accident where you get hit from behind, feel a jolt and your car is pushed forward a bit, but there is little vehicle damage, are deceptively bad accidents. It’s what’s known as a Low Speed Rear Impact Collision or LOSRIC.
More injuries care caused by LOSRIC than in seemingly horrific crashes with heavy car damage. It defies logic, until you understand the science behind it.
Mechanics of a Car Accident
When another car crashes into the back of your car, the energy that is released by the collision has to go somewhere. It cannot just disappear. Some of the energy is given off as sound. A tiny fraction is given off as heat and light. The majority of this energy is transferred from the striking vehicle to your rear bumper. If your bumper crumples and deforms, energy is bled off. The remaining energy goes through the chassis of the car and eventually to you, the occupant.
For illustration purposes, we will say the car that hits you has 10 units of energy. Now let’s say the loud bang releases 1 unit of energy, that means 9 units are left. The two bumpers coming together and each of them crushing bleeds off another 5 units. The remaining 4 units are sent through the car and 3 units ends up in your neck and head making your body jerk quickly.
In this scenario, we have illustrated a collision that causes you to experience a sudden change in position or change in velocity we measured as a 3.
Car Damage Not a Good Predictor of Forces
Cars are designed to be hit on the rear bumper at 5-15 mph without showing damage. When a bumper does not crush or crumple it does not bleed off energy as in the above scenario. So in the above case lets say there is no bumper crush so only 1 unit of energy is lost, leaving 8 units to go through the car and 7 into your head and neck. That’s a huge difference to your neck.
In the real world a collision of 10 mph or less is not likely to show bumper damage. A collision above 10 mph, 11, 12 , etc will show some damage, but it isn’t until we get to around 25 mph where we see significant destruction of the bumper. A 10 mph collision may actually cause more energy to be sent into your neck than a 25 mph collision and it’s all because of bumper crush or lack thereof.
Scientists have found that the human neck can only withstand a change in velocity of around 2.5 mph before it is damaged. Some authors have recently concluded there actually is no minimum speed. They have seen damage at only 1 mph change in velocity. The auto insurance industry will only admit to injuries if 5 mph change is noted. A typical parking lot collision is 12 mph and can cause a neck to experience more than 5 mph change in velocity.
Therefore, your car may be unhurt, but your neck was subjected to forces it was not designed to withstand and tissues become damaged. Soft tissue support structures such as your discs, ligaments, joint cartilage and nerves are commonly injured.
Your Pain Level Not a Good Predictor of Injury
Because the bumper is only dinged, many people rationalize away the neck stiffness or headache they feel because after all they can’t possibly be hurt if there is no car damage. Moderate to severe injuries usually, but not always, show up within minutes to hours of the collision as stiffness, loss of motion and pain. With more mild injuries, the symptoms may be very mild and may be delayed by days, weeks and even months.
Pain is not a good indicator on severity of injury. You may suffer a very painful response to a collision, but your actual internal spinal damage is mild. Conversely, you can suffer a torn disc or torn ligaments and have relatively mild pain. I have had patients present with mild pain and stiffness and fractures show up on their x-rays.
A Specialist Your Best Bet to Find Car Accident Injuries
The only way to determine if you are injured and what the severity is, is to be evaluated by a doctor who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of car accident injuries. A Newport car accident specialist will know what to look for on an exam, know what problems to look for on an x-ray and how make a proper diagnosis, prognosis and treatment plan. Your family physician or chiropractor is not the right doctor for the job. Few general practice doctors have the training and expertise to adequately evaluate your injuries. Concussions, torn ligaments, damaged discs and more are often missed by general doctors. This prevents you from gettign the proper treatment and it also lessens your case when it is time to negotiate a settlement with the insurance company.
Fortunately, there is a Newport Beach Car Accident Injury Specialist available to help you. Residents of Newport Beach, Irvine and Costa Mesa have a specialist who can perform a detailed and thorough evaluation to locate traumatic injuries and design a treatment plan to heal your injuries. Additionally, an entire network of other medical specialists, MRI centers, physical therapists and more are available to assist you.
Dr Barry Marks, Chiropractor
Car Accident Specialist
3300 Irvine Ave #307
Newport Beach, CA 92660
(657) 205-0700
www.newportbeachcaraccident.com
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