In this issue, I've decided to present you with something a little different: a multiple choice quiz designed to test your knowledge on the subject of whiplash. Answers to the quiz will be found at the bottom of the page.
1. The range of collision speed in most (nearly 80%) rear impact whiplash injuries occur is:
a. 10-25 mph.2. Early human volunteer crash testing simulating real world rear impact collisions was conducted at UCLA and demonstrated the following relationship:
b. 15-30 mph.
c. 1-5 mph.
d. 6-12 mph.
a. The volunteer's head was subjected to 2 1/2 times the acceleration as the vehicle itself.3. Regarding the outcome of whiplash injuries, which of the following statements is most accurate?
b. The volunteer's head was subjected to about 1/2 the acceleration as the vehicle itself.
c. The volunteer's acceleration was roughly equivalent to stepping off a curb.
d. In low speed collisions (under 8 mph), no acceleration of the human head can be measured.
a. The vast majority of whiplash injuries resolve in about 6 weeks.4. Which of the following variables are not considered to be risk factors for poor outcome in whiplash trauma?
b. The vast majority of whiplash injuries resolve in 6-12 weeks.
c. About 25-50% of whiplash injuries fail to resolve completely.
d. Whiplash injuries rarely resolve completely.
a. Female gender.5. Which of the following health assessment instruments have been shown to be useful in the evaluation of whiplash (neck injury) related disability?
b. Prior emotional problems.
c. Advanced age.
d. Nonawareness of impending impact.
e. All the above have been shown to be risk factors for poor outcome.
a. The Roland Morris Index.6. Which of the following answers is most correct and current concerning the risk of injury to children in rear impact motor vehicle collisions?
b. The revised Oswestry.
c. The SCL-90-R.
d. The Neck Disability Index.
e. Both c and d.
a. Children have been shown to have about 2/3 the risk of injury of adults.7. Although a fairly large percentage of persons will have symptoms on a permanent basis following whiplash injury, what proportion of whiplash patients will have disability? Select the one best answer.
b. Children have been shown to have about 1/6 the risk of injury of adults.
c. Children and adults are at equal risk, but children are injured much less frequently because they are more frequently rear seat passengers and rear seats are generally safer.
d. Children are more likely than adults to be injured in whiplash trauma.
e. None of the above.
a. 2%.8. A structural lesion that has come to be known as a "rim lesion" consists of:
b. 5%.
c. 18%.
d. 59%.
e. 10%.
a. An injury to the reticular inhibitory mechanism.9. When a vehicle that is stopped (target vehicle), is struck from the rear by another vehicle (bullet vehicle) and moved forward at a speed of 4.5 mph, 4.5 mph represents the target vehicle's:
b. An injury in which the intervertebral disc is separated from the body of the vertebra at the margin.
c. An injury to the epiphysis of a long bone.
d. A type of deformation of bumper isolators that suggests offset collision mechanisms.
e. None of the above.
a. Barrier equivalent velocity (BEV).10. The majority of modern passenger cars behave relatively stiffly in low speed rear impact collisions. Permanent damage to bumpers systems begins to occur at which range of collision speeds?
b. Energy equivalent speed (EES).
c. Delta V.
d. Acceleration.
e. Who cares? We all know you can't get hurt at this speed.
a. 20-25 mph.11. According to the authors of the latest full scale rear impact crash tests using human volunteers, the threshold for cervical spine soft tissue injury (expressed in delta V, or change of velocity) is:
b. 2-7 mph.
c. 8-12 mph.
d. 25-30 mph.
a. 12 mph.Answers to whiplash quiz:
b. 5 mph.
c. 2 mph.
d. 15 mph.
Rate yourself: how did you do?
Many relevant diagnostic signs are not performed deliberately by the examiner or by the patient at the examiner’s direction. They are observed as the patient reacts to their condition. Fortin’s finger sign, Minor’s sign, and Vanzetti’s sign are three examples of this principle.
On Feb. 1, 2024, two more legislators – John R. Carter (R-Texas) and Robert “Bob” Good (R-Va.) – co-sponsored the Chiropractic Medicare Coverage Modernization Act of 2023, bringing the co-sponsor total to 155, two more than the total achieved over the entire two-year congressional cycle in which identical legislation last appeared (2021-22).
While working at the Lovelace Medical Center in Albuquerque, N.M., one of the primary care physicians stated that imaging every patient prior to receiving chiropractic was not medically necessary. It was at that point I reconsidered the need for the imaging of every patient to avoid malpractice.
