Whiplash injury and brain damage: an experimental study.

Abstract

Experimental whiplash injury in rhesus monkeys has demonstrated that experimental cerebral concussion, as well as gross hemorrhages and contusions over the surface of the brain and upper cervical cord, can be produced by rotational displacement of the head on the neck alone, without significant direct head impact. These experimental observations have been studied in the light of published reports of cerebral concussion and other evidence for central nervous system involvement after whiplash injury in man.