Whiplash and Soft-Tissue Injuries: Why Insurers Fight Them

Real pain, nothing on the X-ray

Whiplash is the most common injury in a car crash. The head snaps forward and back, and the muscles, ligaments and tendons of the neck are stretched or torn. Backs and shoulders get hurt the same way.

These are called soft-tissue injuries, and they can be painful for weeks or months. Some people never fully recover. But they usually do not show up on an X-ray, and that is where the trouble with the insurer starts.

Why insurers push back

There is nothing to see. A broken bone shows on an X-ray. A strained ligament usually does not. Insurers know juries find it easier to believe in an injury they can see.

The damage to the car was small. Insurers often argue that a crash with little visible damage to the cars could not have hurt anyone. That is not how bodies work. A car’s bumper can absorb an impact that still throws the people inside forward and back.

Claims are scored. Many insurers run injury claims through evaluation software that assigns value based on the diagnoses, treatment and records. A claim with thin or inconsistent records scores low.

Symptoms come and go. Soft-tissue pain often gets better, then worse, then better again. An insurer reads a good week as a recovery.

How a soft-tissue claim is proven

The answer is the record. A well-documented soft-tissue claim is far stronger than people expect.

• Get examined right away. Ideally the same day or the next. Pain from whiplash often starts or gets worse a day or two after the crash, and a visit within that window ties it to the crash.
• Tell the doctor everything, every time: where it hurts, how it affects sleep, work, driving, lifting your children, turning your head to change lanes.
• Follow the treatment plan. Physical therapy, chiropractic care, medication, injections: whatever your doctors recommend, do it, and do not leave gaps. Read why gaps in treatment hurt a claim.
• Get imaging if your doctor orders it. An MRI can show disc injuries that an X-ray cannot.
• Keep a short journal. A few lines a week about pain and what you could not do.
• Photograph the damage to both cars, and keep the repair estimates. A crash with “minor” damage can still cost thousands to repair, and the estimate shows the force involved.

What not to do

• Do not tell anyone you are “fine” before a doctor has examined you
• Do not give a recorded statement to the other driver’s insurer. Read why you should decline
• Do not accept a quick offer before you know whether you are getting better. Read should I accept the first offer?
• Do not post about your activities. Read social media during an injury case

Talk to Boyd

If an insurer is telling you that your neck or back injury does not count, call. The consultation is free, and Boyd takes the call himself: (714) 656-2400.