Electroencephalograms in Whiplash Injury

Abstract

The incidence of whiplash injuries is increasing with the increased automobile travel of our society. The usual history of patients suffering from whiplash injury is that they were involved in an automobile accident, the majority being struck from behind and having the head and neck subjected to hyperextension-flexion movement. In some patients, the vehicle in which they were passengers was struck from the side, inducing a lateral to-and-fro motion to the head and neck. Little attention has been paid to the status of the brain in patients who have sustained such an injury. The psychoneurotic-type symptomatology which is common in these patients has, by most authors, been attributed to psychological causes, and little consideration has been given to the fact that these apparent psychoneurotic symptoms might be organically determined and due to injury to the brain. In a previous publication¹ the subject of brain injury complicating whiplash injuries was