Despite the improvement of protective properties in vehicles acceleration injuries to the cervical spine have not lost their significance. The increase of minor injuries and a high rate of seat belt usage is, beside other reasons, responsible for the increase in of mild cervicle spine injuries. From a data pool of 15 000 vehicle-vehicle collisions the portion of cervical spine injuries was selected for further investigation. The study indicates that the `acceleration injury' requires a critical verification by doctors and insurers. A detailed finding following a thorough history taking and, in case, an interdisciplinary definition of accident injuries an early point of time will certain the diagnosis and facilitate therapy and judgement. The advancement of protective properties in vehicles and their broad utilisation are indispensable in order to reduce the great number of mild cervicle spine injury.
Samenvatting