|

COMMON COMPLAINTS OF VICTIMS SUFFERING FROM "WHIPLASH" WILL PROBABLY INCLUDE,
BUT NOT BE LIMITED TO:
- Head pain
- Neck pain
- Shoulder pain
- Ear pain
- Dizziness with or without nausea
- Tinnitus (ear noises)
- Numbness and/or tingling in the arms and hands
- Restrictions in head and neck mobility
- Pain and/or pressure behind the eye
- Visual and auditory changes
Immediately following the trauma episode, jaw joint pain and/or jaw
joint noises during function may or may not be present. However, since cervical
dysfunction and temporomandibular dysfunction are mutually provocative, lack of effective
treatment, poor treatment or mistreatment will inevitably result in the following
complaints:
- Jaw joint crepitus and/or popping/clicking
- Jaw pain
- Facial pain
- Pain and/or difficulty in chewing
- Restrictions in jaw opening and other mandibular ranges of motion
- Ear congestion
**The more time that lapses from the trauma episode, the more the victims
complaints will include symptoms and dysfunctions further removed from the head and neck.
Early effective diagnosis and treatment of the victims complaints should preclude
this occurrence.
**Latent temporomandibular joint dysfunction
complaints may not surface until months after the trauma episode. The presence or absence
of pain in the specific jaw joint site is not necessarily an indicator of permanent damage
to the jaw joint mechanism. In addition, the effect of other injuries sustained in the
trauma episode may well have the attention of the victim.
Blunt trauma in a "whiplash"
trauma episode is not a requisite for permanent injuries; in fact, an uninterrupted
"whiplash" sequence has a potential for more permanent tissue damage. Blunt
trauma victims present a different forensic profile. |