Youve been in a car accident

You’ve been involved in a car accident.  Insurance company tells you that they are denying your claim because your car has very low damage and they don’t think you could’ve been hurt.  Are they right?

Nothing can be further from the truth.  Research dating as far back as 1955 has failed to prove a correlation between crash severity and occupant injury (1-4).   Further detail on this subject can be found in an earlier blog we had written.

If  the amount of damage to your car is not a predictor of injury, then what is?  Factors that should be taken into consideration instead are:

• Awareness:  Did you know that the crash was about to happen?
• Position of the head:  Were you looking straight or was your head turned to either direction?
• Position of the headrest:  was it below the head’s center of gravity before impact?
• Out of position occupant:  leaning forward, slumped
• Position in vehicle:  Driver vs. passenger
• Age of occupants
• Stature of occupants

These are just some of the pertinent details that should be considered after a car accident.  At Total Health Family Clinic, we have a combined experience of 30 years in evaluation and management of auto accident injuries.  Our experienced staff will through a detailed history, be able to pinpoint important risk factors that were involved in your injury, and develop a plan of care required to get you to full recovery.

Yours in Health,

Ashkan Aazami, DC

Severy DM, Mathewson JH, Bechtol CO:  Controlled automobile rear-end collisions, an investigation of related engineering and mechanical phenomenon.  Can Services Med J 11:727-758, 1955

Croft AC, Eldridge TR:  Human subject rear passenger symptoms response to frontal car-to car low-speed crash tests.  Journal of Chiropractic Medicine, September 2011
Freeman MD, Centeno C, Croft AC, Nicodemus CN:  Significant spinal injury resulting from low-level accelerations:  a comparison with whiplash.  Proceedings, International Congress on Whiplash-Associated-Disorders, Berne, Switzerland, March 9-10, 2001
Bailey MN, Wong BC, Lawrence JM:  Data and methods for estimating the severity of minor impacts.  SAE Tech Paper Series 950352 1339-174, 1995