Brain Changes May Cause Lasting Whiplash Symptoms

Whiplash symptoms that last years after a car accident but cannot be seen in tests have long baffled both doctors but new research suggests they may be caused by changes in the brain.

An estimated three in 1,000 people suffer from whiplash, and one in four of them has chronic symptoms.

Whiplash occurs during accident in a car, causing the driver’s neck to move forward and backwards like a whip.

Usually these accidents occur at low speed; most people don’t see a doctor, as they don’t think anything is wrong. But soon after the accident, they may start noticing pain in their head, neck, and jaw.

This family of symptoms is called whiplash-associated disorder, and it is notoriously difficult to diagnose.

Now a research team from the Netherlands and Germany says they believe that these symptoms could be the result of previously unseen functional changes in the pain-processing parts of the brain.

They also say their findings may bring closer the possibility of diagnosing chronic whiplash associated disorder (cWAD), potentially helping relieve people’s pain.

The researchers scanned the brains of 20 women – eight healthy, pain-free women and 12 with cWAD using a technique called positron emission tomography (PET). They exposed each group to four different levels of non-painful electrical neck stimulation and scanned them.

The results showed changes in the blood flow in areas of the brain involved in pain perception and processing sensory information.

“With the recent accumulated scientific evidence, we can now say there is something happening in the brain,” says Dr. David Vállez García, the study’s lead author.

“I think our study will improve awareness about the disease, of the public and of medical doctors, and help people with chronic whiplash-associated disorders get the decent treatment they need,” he added.

The research appears in EBioMedicine.