I have been told that because there wasn't much physical damage to my car that I could not be hurt that bad....Is this true?

The truth of the matter is when a person is involved in a rearend motor vehicle collision (whiplash injury) insurace companies try their very hardest to deny payment for medical treatment based on the notion that "how could you be hurt if the car did not even sustain any physical damage?"

It is well know that insurance companies are in business to make money and don't think for a second that they will use every tactic available to save money and increase their botttom line.

 When a car is hit at a higher velocity (speed) and the body of the care gives way (dent) that absorbs a lot of the force of the impact so you the occupant take less force.  In low speed rearend collisions (5-10 mph) usually there is no visible dent or autobody damage.  This is very important to note becuase if the car is not collapsing or giving way all the force of the collision is transferred to you, most often your cervical spine (neck), resulting in a whiplash injury (hyperextension/hyperflexion) injury to the neck.  

With these types of injures no x-ray, cat scan or MRI will detect the soft tissue injuries that happen at the cellular level.  This is call "microtrauma."

 It is not uncommon for symptoms to show up 2 weeks after the injury so do not act too quickly to dismiss your case before symtoms appear.

Essentially this injury is a microtearing of muscle and ligament.  Muscles generally can heal within 4-6 weeks.  Ligaments and tendons however do not get a good blood supply and thus can take months to heal.

The take away messages here are:

1  Just becuase there is no "dent" in you car does not mean you couldn't be hurt, in fact the opposite is true.  When the car doesn't "dent" and absorb the force, you take all of it.

2  Just because you went to the ER or MD and x-rays/MRI's are negative does not mean you are not hurt.  Just because you can't see it Does NOT mean it doesn't exist.  Statistically speaking 85% of soft tissue injures (whiplash is included in this) are not detected via MRI.  It's cellular level microtrauma.

3  See a good chiropractor that specializes in not only adjusting but physiotherapy/rehab and soft tissue/stretching techniques.  These therapies combined will get you better faster and give you better lasting results.....the last thing you want is chronic pain years into the future.

Your in Health

Dr Burtenshaw

Kuna Chiropractor