Whiplash is one of the most common injuries sustained in a road traffic accident, whether you are driving a car, lorry, van or motorbike. It is caused by the sudden movement of the head forwards, backwards or sideways such as happens when you are in a collision. The sudden jerk on your neck causes it to move beyond its normal range of movement and to such an extent that the ligaments, tendons, and muscles in the neck can be damaged by being over stretched. Whiplash injuries can also occur even if the impact is at a relative slow speed.

Whiplash symptoms in general include : neck pain and stiffness, neck swelling, tenderness along the back of the neck, a reduction in or loss of movement in the neck and headaches.

Other whiplash symptoms include lower back pain, the arms or hands suffering pins and needles or a numbness, muscle spasms, dizziness, tiredness, difficulty swallowing, tiredness, blurred vision, vertigo, a ringing in the ears and difficulty swallowing.

In more extreme cases whiplash symptoms include memory loss, poor concentration and irritability.

I suggest that if you are suffering from any of these symptoms that you consult your doctor or GP and I do this for two reasons : firstly to get expert medical assistance for your whiplash injuries and secondly so that should you make a whiplash compensation claim then there is a record of your injuries and the treatment prescribed.

Whiplash Compensation: to make a claim you need to have been involved in an accident that was not your fault, please note that if you were the passenger of a car whose driver was at fault then you can still claim. As the driver of the vehicle you were travelling in has a duty of care towards his passengers. Secondly the accident must be within the last three year, though there are exceptions.

The two most asked questions about making a whiplash claim are :

What am I able to claim for? The answer is that you can claim for your pain and suffering, any loss of income resulting from your whiplash injury, damage to any of your possessions in the accident and any other financial loss or expense you incurred. You may also be able to receive private medical treatment, at no cost to yourself.

How much whiplash compensation could I receive? This is a far more difficult question to answer, as each whiplash compensation claim differs and depends on a number of factors. For greater clarification go to link at the bottom of this article, where you can get a lot more information on all aspects of whiplash and were the above two questions are covered in far greater detail.