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Whiplash Claims – How To Prove Whiplash And Claim Compensation

By Ian Morris | Updated June 12th, 2024

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Many who oppose the no win no fee personal injury claims process say that whiplash is a made up injury and abused by claimants looking for a quid or two. However, anyone who has sustained a whiplash injury knows the truth. Whiplash can cause serious pain, ongoing discomfort and prevent people living their life as usual. In some cases, people can suffer permanent injuries as a result. By seeking compensation with a whiplash claim, claimants can win a settlement to cover the pain and distress of their injuries, recover any losses (including lost wages) and access rehabilitation therapies.

Claims for whiplash compensation are usually an easy matter to resolve and can be settled within a short period, usually 3-6 months from the date a whiplash claim is started. But before you can win a settlement, you need to know if you actually have whiplash and a valid claim.

What is whiplash?

Most people think whiplash is simply a pain in the neck, yet it can be much more than that. Caused by the hyper extension of major and minor muscles, whiplash is a phrase used to cover injuries to the muscles and soft tissues around the spine, most commonly in the neck and shoulder region.

In minor cases, a person suffering whiplash is likely to have stiffness in the neck, a feeling of weakness and pain from simply supporting their head and perhaps discomfort when turning their head in one particular direction. These symptoms are painful and upsetting, but you should expect to recover within 4-8 weeks from the date of the accident.

In more severe cases, symptoms can last many months or indeed be permanent, and could also include pins and needles in the arms, a loss of sensation in the hands and fingers, severe headaches, loss of balance, lack of sleep, lower back and even leg pain. Of course, the more severe the symptoms, the greater the value of a settlement, should you be successful with a claim for personal injury compensation.

Most whiplash related injuries are caused in car accidents. However, whiplash can also be caused by slips on wet floors or tripping accidents. Indeed, any heavy impact that causes the muscles and ligaments of the upper spine and neck to be violently jolted from side to side, or back and forwards, is likely to cause a whiplash related injury.

How to make a whiplash compensation claim

The sooner you start your claim, the sooner we can help you make sure that you have the maximum chance of succeeding. We can run through an accident claim checklist, help you to make sure that you have reported the accident to the right people and give your whiplash compensation claim the best chance of succeeding.

No two accidents are the same and with this in mind, it is vital that you seek proper advice so that you know whether or not you have a viable claim. However, there are some basic pointers that can help you identify where you stand regarding the strength of a claim or otherwise:

Have you been involved in an accident that was not your fault?
Have you developed whiplash related symptoms – pain or stiffness in neck, shoulders or upper back?
Have you received medical treatment, seen a GP or been to A&E?
Has your doctor confirmed your injuries as whiplash?
Do you think that your whiplash related pain and discomfort will last more than a few days?

The above is nothing more than a basic guideline. Even if you answer no to some of these questions, you may still have a valid claim for whiplash injury compensation.

How to prove you have whiplash with medical evidence

As with all claims for personal injury compensation, whiplash claimants need to provide sufficient evidence to support their claim. In order to prove that you have suffered a whiplash injury, you will need to have a professional medical diagnosis made of the symptoms you are suffering with. This can be done by visiting an A&E department or by seeing your GP.

People injured in a car accident are often not sure what to do next after such a traumatic and upsetting event. Whiplash injuries can take a few hours or even a few days to become painful, so victims don’t always receive immediate treatment from a doctor or hospital. However, medical evidence will be needed to support a claim for compensation and prove to the defendant that you have suffered a whiplash injury, and it will also prove the severity of your injury.

It doesn’t matter if you have not already seen your doctor or been to hospital, you can still start your claim and we advise that you do just that – don’t delay your claim for too long as it could have a negative impact on the outcome.

How much compensation do you get for whiplash?

Every whiplash claim is different as a result of the injuries sustained, so it’s impossible to tell exactly how much compensation you could be entitled to without a medical assessment. In negotiating a settlement awarding whiplash compensation for your injuries, the following factors are taken into consideration.

How severe the whiplash injury is
Whether the injury prevents you from working
How much of an impact the injury has on your day to day activities
Whether ongoing treatment is necessary

These are the most important elements in assessing the value of your whiplash compensation claim, although there are many other factors to consider too. When the initial evidence has been collected your solicitor will be able to let you know the likely level of compensation you can expect for your injuries. Your settlement will not only cover your injuries, but expenses such as lost earnings, and car hire and repairs.

Your solicitor will gather all of the evidence necessary to obtain the maximum amount of whiplash compensation for you. Claiming can also allow you to access specialist rehabilitation therapies to help speed your recovery, all at the expense of the liable party.

Whiplash rehabilitation therapies

By the time people suffering from whiplash injuries contact us to start their claim for compensation, most have not had any rehabilitation therapy whatsoever, just the painkillers and anti-inflammatory drugs initially prescribed to them. Many have been referred to their NHS physiotherapy provider, but with waiting lists often approaching 6 months, it can feel like it is not worth bothering.

By making a no win no fee claim for whiplash injury compensation, your solicitor can arrange a course of suitable rehabilitation therapies to help you recover more quickly from your symptoms. The costs for these therapies will be met by the insurers you’re claiming against, not deducted from your injury compensation settlement, and because they are privately funded access to the therapy will be fast. Appointments for treatments will be made at a provider local to you and at a time to suit you. Common types of whiplash rehabilitation therapy can include:

Physiotherapy
Osteopathy
Massage Therapy
Acupuncture
Personal training

See if you can make a whiplash claim

We understand that making a claim for whiplash compensation can be a daunting prospect. However, at Direct2Compensation we’ll explain the stages of our simple claims process and give you the confidence to proceed with your claim. Indeed, if you have any questions, you can contact us with no obligation. At Direct2Compensation we guarantee two things: Firstly, that we will never pressure you in to making a claim, and secondly, that should your claim fail, it won’t cost you a penny.

If you’re wondering about your situation, feel free to leave a question at the bottom of this article or call us on 01225 430285, or if you prefer, .

Lastly, if you are suffering from whiplash, the NHS website has some useful guidance available at https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/whiplash/.

151 questions have been answered on this subject - ask us your question

Comments & Questions

Read on for questions and advice about claiming, plus whiplash claim examples...

My car lost power whilst driving on a roundabout causing me to mount the roundabout and spin out. Earlier that day, my car went through a service and the garage recommended a new battery which was booked in for the following week. I wasn’t made aware that the car could have been dangerous to drive in any way but when breakdown recovery arrived, they jump started my car and stated that the battery had died causing all power steering and electrics to shut down. This was yesterday and the pain in my neck and shoulder blades is getting worse. I’m requesting a gp appointment on Monday but I wanted to know if this would he a viable claim.

There is a potential claim, but whether or not it would be possible to pursue this matter is not as yet clear. Once you have seen your GP, please email some further information to me about the garage, what happened and what your GP has said and we will then get our specialist Solicitors to discuss this and consider whether or not we can pursue this for you.

I was driving a wagon when a car came round a blind bend overtaking another vehicle and on my side of the road,I had to brake suddenly to avoid ahead on collision,I have sustained neck and shoulder pain visited a&e.i was told it is likely whiplash do I have a claim.

If you have the details of the 3rd party that caused you to have to brake so hard that you sustained injury, we can pursue against them and their insurers. If you do not have those details, we could still help – if you reported the incident to the Police – by way of making a claim via the Motor Insurers Bureau scheme for the victims of untraced drivers as if the 3rd party fled the scene without stopping, it may be possible to pursue the claim on the same basis as if the injuries were caused in a hit and run incident.

Please call us on 01225430285 for further help with this.

I was the passenger in my partner’s car and we had come round a Bend stopped and indicated to turn right, whilst waiting for a police van to go past the turning i was waiting to go into. Someone smashed straight into the back of our car. Our car was a write off. The police witnessed it. Since I have had headaches and pain in my back and neck. Is this enough for a claim?

You can absolutely make a claim for compensation for the neck & back injuries you sustained as a passenger in the car accident. Our initial view is that you should have no problems in obtaining compensation for the injuries you describe which would appear to be typical with whiplash – an injury commonly associated with road traffic accident.

As we are able to operate remotely, we remain available to help you to start your claim, despite the current restrictions. We look forward to hearing from you.

I was stationary at a round about when a car crashed into the back of me. The impact shunted my car forward quite dramatically and I’m now experiencing stiffness of the neck and shoulders. Should I claim for this and if so, how?

You absolutely have a right to make a claim for personal injury compensation for the soft tissue injuries you describe. The common term to describe the injuries you have sustained is ‘whiplash’. Our specialist Solicitors are able to pursue such claims on a No Win No Fee basis.

To start your claim, we’ll need to take some initial basic information about you, the accident, the injuries and the details of the vehicles involved so that we can then present your claim to our Solicitors. If you have not yet seen your GP, we would recommend that you make an appointment so that your injuries can be noted – this is important should the symptoms persist and prove to be more severe than you may hope.

I was a passenger on bus October 2019.A car pulled out off a sidestreet and hit the bus,there was just slightest shunt.3 days later went to Gp with pain in neck and shoulders.She prescibed painkillers and gel.A week after still had the discomfort and Gp sent me to A +E consultant said it was due to whiplash.I have been onto bus company and they have told me 3rd party admitted liability.I have been for a medical report in November and submitted to insurance company.Why would this take so long?Or is there something else i should do?

Are you representing yourself in this claim or do you have a Solicitor? If you have a Solicitor, they will ensure that the medical evidence is properly considered when settling your claim and will ensure that appropriate timescales are adhered to in making your claim.

If you don’t have a Solicitor acting for you, you could still make such an instruction. The timescales you mention are on the longer side of expectations and the outcome of the medical report consideration by the insurers should be chased. Our article on bus accident claims might also be of interest.

Hi I was driving through country roads , and a tree fell in the road I got my brakes on just in time for the tree to only fall on my bonnet , but I believe I have suffered some sort of injury to my lower back a neck as I have woken up the next day in a lot of pain could this be from the force of the emergency stop …

If the tree that fell on to your vehicle was blown down in the recent storm, you would not be able to make a claim for personal injury compensation. Whilst unfortunate, in such circumstances, the tree falling is not an act of negligence but simply due to a severe and unpredictable weather phenomenon.

Hi – I wonder if I am too late to make a claim for my whiplash injury?

I was involved in an incident in January 2018 whereby I was waiting at an extremely busy roundabout when I was shunted from behind by a large delivery truck. At the time I felt a bit shaken from the shock (as obviously it came out of the blue)m but the driver instantly came out of his truck to apologise and suggested we should park up near to where the accident took when he could give me his details, who he worked for etc, if I wanted to make a claim.

Looking at my rear bumper there appeared such minimal damage, if it was my own car, I would probably have told him everything is ok and not to worry. But as it was a company car I was driving I had no option but to take his details as I would have been charged for at least some of any minimal repair bill. The damage itself actually came to over £1,000 – but this is not my issue. When I got back to the office where I worked I genuinely felt ok. In fact when someone suggested ‘I bet you’re going to make a claim for whiplash’ I just replied I wasn’t, I was ok….

About three weeks later I suddenly felt a stiffening of my neck on the left hand side. I put it down to perhaps sleeping funnily, but this was like towards the end of my day at work when it happened. I though it may have been something to do with the accident, but then thought ‘nope’ probably not. which then soon went from probably not to ‘hopefully’ not in my mind.

Anyway, long story short, between that time and now (which obviously now is bordering on two years) my instances of ‘cricked’ neck have become increasingly more frequent, increasingly more painful, and increasingly longer in duration. So much so, a bout I had less than two weeks ago has returned with what feels like more pain than ever before. I’ve actually tried to sleep with my forehead buried in my pillow to get some relief (and least quality sleep), because whichever way i try to lie – to the left or to the right, on a pillow or without one, the pain persists to one degree or another. sometimes enough to make me give an involuntary
‘yelp out’….

I’m not sure how I stand here, not least because this was such a long time ago, but if i could still get some compensation – even if this is purely for medical treatment – I would be more than happy to take it right now.

I’m seeing my doctor at 2.00 today, supposedly to talk about a slight knee problem I am having, but this pales into complete insignificance right now. my neck is just so painful…Obvious I will mention this to her, but to be honest, this will be the first time I will have spoken to a doctor about my neck problem. I struggle to even mention it to my wife or children for the ‘what did we tell you’ response…..

If nothing else, thanks for reading this. I’m glad Ive wrote about it if nothing else….

If you did not seek medical attention within a few weeks of the incident, the reality is that you will be unlikely to make a claim now. This is because the 3rd party insurers will simply ask for evidence that their insured caused the injury and without medical evidence to prove that you attended the GP within a few weeks of the incident and discussed the rta and your neck issue, you cannot provide any evidence.

Hi.
Was involved in a accident this morning, when I was stationary by a red traffic light and suddenly got a jolted by the car behind me.
It transpired that the car behind me (Car 2) was also stationary and that the car behind him (Car 3) had collided into him thereby causing car 2 to ram into the rear of my car.
Besides a few scratches, damage to my car is minimal, however I was jolted and have now got pain in my neck and upper back.
I contacted Car 3 insurance and told them of the incident, upon which the “advised” that I need to contact my Insurance company to deal with the claim for my injuries.
I told them, that I had no intention in letting my Insurers handle the claim as they are no reasons for them to get involved.
Question: Is my potential claim against the Insurance company for Car 3 or Car 2? How can ensure that 3rd party insurers deal with me direct rather then via my Insurers?

In cases such as the one you describe, it is most likely that car 3 (as you describe) is the liable party in full and is responsible for the losses and potential injuries of both yourself and car 2.

If you have already attempted to pursue a claim against car 3’s insurers directly and been rebuffed, you can – if you are determined to represent yourself rather than instruct a specialist personal injury Solicitor to act for you – contact car 3 insurers and ask for their claims department and submit your own claim to them for the injuries you have sustained. Whilst you have the right to pursue your claim directly, you should consider whether you are able to represent yourself adequately or whether it may be prudent to make an instruction to a specialist personal injury Solicitor to act on your behalf to ensure that your interest and rights are upheld. Should you opt to instruct a Solicitor (such as those with whom we work), you would be able to do so on a No Win No Fee basis, thus not risking any financial implication should your claim fail.

An important item for consideration in the scenario you describe relates to the apparent low velocity impact (LVI) in this incident. In your case, establishing liability for the accident against car 3 should not be a problem. However, the 3rd party insurers are almost certain to argue that whilst the collision occurred, the speed of the collision and the amount of damage to your vehicle indicates that your injuries are not consistent with the mechanical forces of the collision. As such, they will likely reject that your injuries were caused by their driver. With this in mind, having a specialist Solicitor act for you, ensuring that appropriate medical evidence is obtained to demonstrate that you have sustained soft tissue injuries as a result of the collision may well be the most sensible course of action.

Had a crash, insurance cant say who’s to blame, sustained whiplash, can I claim against my insurance if its settled as 50/50 between both of us?

If the claim is settled on a split liability basis of 50/50, you should still be able to make a claim for compensation but your settlement will be 50% of the total it would otherwise have been.

I was driving home from work and whilst straightening up after turning right on a roundabout on the nearside lane a jeep to my right started cutting me up in order to get into my lane. He was so close that I couldn’t see the window of the passenger door and in order to avoid him colliding with me I swerved to my left, hit a high kerb with a loud bang, jolted back into my lane, stopped my car, put on my hazard lights on, pressed my horn and managed to memorise then copy the registration number down in my diary. I got home and was in a stressed state. I called the local non urgent Police number. The officer was able to tell me that the vehicle (Jeep Compass) was a hire car and that he was sending paperwork for me to write a report as hitting the kerb had damaged the alloy wheel and scraped the bumper and it was classed as a road traffic accident. Over the next few days I developed excruciating pain in my shoulder which radiated to my neck. On Wednesday 25th Sept. I retired from work, had awful pain and at the end of the day attended an urgent appointment. I was diagnosed with whiplash and told to take painkillers and that’s where I am today, still trying to find out how to sleep through the night – keep waking up at 03:00/03:30 every morning in great pain (across shoulders and neck) and sitting up in a chair till about 07:00. I have completed a police report explaining exactly what happened but I feel that the offending driver can deny everything and as I have no video/witnesses then there is little I can do. Apparently the police have contacted the company which hired the vehicle. It is my word against this driver, he caused me to swerve and I end up with all this pain. Any advice would be appreciated. By the way I have heard the word whiplash mentioned many times but never in a million years did I imagine how much dreadful pain was involved.

You are right in what you say regarding whiplash. For many people it is seen as a ‘joke’ and disregarded as being a made up injury. However, those of us who work with claimants pursuing claims for whiplash compensation (and for people like me who have suffered the injury personally), we understand just how debilitating the worst of the symptoms can be.

You have done the right thing in terms of reporting the details of the incident to the Police. However, as you point out, whilst you are clearly the ‘innocent’ party in this incident, without any corroborating evidence or witness information it is very easy for the negligent driver to deny any knowledge of the incident. With this in mind, it could make it difficult to succeed with a claim for compensation.

We would be happy to speak with you to obtain further details from you regarding the incident, the Police Reference number and the vehicles involved so that we could pass the details to our specialist whiplash injury compensation Solicitors. They would then be able to make initial enquiries with the alleged defendant and see if anything positive could be achieved for you. If you would like to take that further, please email me directly and we’ll obtain the information needed from you (ian@direct2compensation.co.uk).

I was involved in an accident in a car park on 22.12.2018. I was stationary on the left hand side of the road. Third party driver reversed out and hit my driver side door and driver side passenger door. It caused a big dent in my driver side door and small dent in the driver side passenger door. The Vehicle Engineer’s report stated both doors needed replacing and the damage was worth £2300 pounds approx. I have been paid for the damage and had repaired. I suffered from Neck and Lower Back injuries and went to the GP 07.01.2019. GP confirmed I have whiplash injuries and advised to take painkillers. I was sent to a medical examiner by my solicitor on 26.02.2019. The medical examiner said my neck and lower back injuries were there but I was normal from 80-89%. The defendant has rejected my injuries and says her car ‘nudged’ mine. She was only travelling at 4-5mph in her defence. They have requested to see my medical records. I was involved in a fault accident 7months prior to this one and was hit on the driver side door and passenger door but I was at fault. I self medicated. Please can you advise?

In cases of low speed vehicle collisions (known as low velocity impact or LVI), defendant insurers will seek to fight any claim for personal injury compensation.

Clearly in your case, liability is not in dispute for the accident itself so the issue is proving causation – that the incident on 22nd December 2018 was responsible for your neck and lower back pain as diagnosed by your GP 10 days or so later. Your Solicitor will therefore seek to use the medical evidence that they have – your medical records and the medical examiners report to force the defendant to agree to compensate you for your injuries.

As you were in a previous collision in the year before the incident, that could be taken in to account but as you did not attend your GP for treatment, there is unlikely to be too much difficulty for your Solicitor in confirming that the injuries you presented to your GP with on 7th Jan were ‘new’ and not caused by the previous collision.

Thanks for the advice. Will the Damage to my car also have bearing on my injuries? Both doors needed replacing and the vehicle examiner classed the damage as moderate. Also before the vehicle was assessed I obtained an estimate from the dealer for the damages and they also confirmed that both doors needed replacing. With regards to the 3rd party claiming LVI – surely the damage to my vehicle cannot be minimal. I have provided details of my previous at fault accident as well to my solicitors. I have also had history of very low vitamin D and Rickets when I was younger.

The severity of the damage to your vehicle could be relevant in proving that you were indeed injured. Clearly, if a vehicle is ‘badly’ damaged, it is easier for a Solicitor to demonstrate that a claimant has been injured in the collision.

I had a car accident the other day. I was fine straight afterwards, but later that day I was in pain. The following morning the pain was a lot worse (right shoulder, arm, neck, back and chest pains), so I went to a&e where I had x-rays etc. I was told that nothing was broken, just badly inflamed muscles and tendons and I was prescribed strong co-codamol (30 x 500mg) and given a copy of the prescription from a&e is that enough evidence for a claim?

The evidence that you mention from A&E would certainly support your claim with regards to demonstrating that your injuries are confirmed and diagnosed professionally.

The evidence you need to provide to start the claim is the identity of the offending driver who was liable for the accident. With this in mind, we would simply need the vehicle registration for both parties and your personal information to start your claim for compensation.

I had compensation for whiplash in 2012. Still have pain, loss of movement, and paralysis of arm, shoulder and neck and pain, my neck and shoulder hurt all the time. Just found out I have degenerative disc disease and spondylosis is there anything I can do as it all started after that car accident

As you have already made and settled your claim for the injuries sustained in 2012, there is nothing you can do in terms of revisiting that claim or pursuing a claim for further damage.

The defendant insurers who settled your previous claim would refuse to further compensate you as you would have settled the matter on a full and final basis. I assume that you were represented by a specialist Solicitor and that your injury damages were calculated on the basis of a specialist medical report?

I was in an accident this Tuesday morning, 20 August. I was hit by a taxi at the back of my car. Impact was so hard, my car was pushed to the other side of the road to on coming traffic. With the grace of God the other car stopped in time avoiding hitting me too. Later that day i started feeling discomfort on my right shoulder and neck. And today the pain in my neck is worse and my back too. I keep taking painkillers to numb the pain. So now I suspect whiplash from the accident. So my question is.. do I qualify for a claim?

Thank you for your comment. Yes, if you were hit from behind in a road traffic collision, you would be entitled to claim compensation for any injury or loss caused by the negligence of the 3rd party driver who caused the accident.

If you would like to pursue your claim with us, please call us on 01225430285.

i got in a car crash four months ago that wasn’t my fault and claimed whiplash and now have just got into another also not my fault can i still claim and will it affect it ?

Yes, you can make a claim for the 2nd incident as well as the first claim and it will not impact on the first claim. Your 2nd claim will enable you to claim for the exacerbation of the previously sustained whiplash injury and also for any newly caused injury or loss.

Hi Ian, if my vehicle was not actually hit (except with a piece of metal no larger than 1 lbs) but used rapid turning/braking to avoid an accident, do I still have a claim for whiplash, and/or previously asymptomatic spinal stenosis, which was aggravated by the incident?

You can make a claim against whoever was responsible for the item that caused you to take evasive action. To pursue this, you’ll need to be able to identify the proposed defendant and have evidence to support your claim such as having made a police report or having reported the piece of metal to whichever company had responsibility for it. I assume it fell from a vehicle or building as you drove?

I was stopped at a red light, a truck came up behind me and did not stop going about 40MPH, and struck my car. I struck the car in front of me. I had by seat belt on which made me go forward and twist so the right side of my head hit the steering wheel, then I came back and my head hit the head rest of the seat. After my dizzy spell was over I actually got out of the car and being pretty angry yelled at the man “Are you drunk?” And he said “yes”. The police arrived and I told them all of this. They took me to the hospital because of dizziness and headaches, did ct scan and X-ray of back but no mention of whiplash and was discharged. I woke up today couldn’t even raise my head, my shoulders and neck were in extreme pain, went to my GP and she said it was Whiplash and put it on my diagnosis sheet. Do I have a reason? Even though the emergency room didn’t diagnose it? Thank you.

It is not uncommon for soft tissue injuries such as whiplash to not be immediately present or noticed by someone who has sustained such an injury. Typically, the symptoms from injuries such as whiplash will develop within 12-72 hours post accident. In this case, as your GP as now noted the whiplash symptoms on your records, you can add that injury to any claim you go on to pursue as a result of the road traffic incident you have mentioned.

Hello. The car I was driving was involved in a low speed collision at a crossroads in January 2017, when a car entering the junction from my left failed to give way to my priority. Instead of stopping, it apparently maintained a speed of around 30-35mph, which resulted in the front of my car impacting the offside rear wing of their car, at a speed of 15-18mph. I later suffered neck pain which I attributed to whiplash resulting from my car not only being halted in the collision, but also jolted hard to the right. As the pain was significant, I was advised by my insurers to submit a claim for compensation, which has been ongoing since April 2017. In January 2018, my solicitors engaged the services of an orthopaedic consultant who examined me and requested an MRI scan to assist his diagnosis, however this was not carried out until May this year. As a result of the MRI scan, he has now formally reported that my post-accident neck pain was due to a sprain in my neck, from which I will have recovered within 12 months, but that the MRI scan has identified that my ongoing symptoms are “due to a sprain of a constitutional pre-existing degenerative osteoarthritic cervical spine, and not the accident”. Should I challenge this opinion? Many thanks.

For many people making a claim for personal injury compensation, an element of age related or degenerative conditions will be noted within a medical experts report. This is particularly common amongst those who are making claims for injuries relating to the spine, neck and joints. Of course, it is disappointing to receive such a report as it may appear that it will let a defendant insurer ‘off the hook’ a little in terms of the level of damages that they will have to finance in settlement of a claim.

In your case, it would seem that the medical expert is of the view that your symptoms will persist for 12 months but that the ongoing issues that you are having relate to pre-existing degenerative problems within the area of the injury. You should discuss with your Solicitor as to whether or not there is any realistic possibility of being able to challenge the opinion of the expert. Whilst you could seek a 2nd report from a different expert, this is a risky option. Firstly, you would likely have to pay the cost of the 2nd medical (as you wouldn’t be able to recover the cost of a 2nd medical whereas you can with the first one) and secondly, another expert may well reach the same conclusion as the first expert, in which case you would be out of pocket with no benefit.

The problem in challenging the conclusion about a pre-existing injury or condition is how do you do so? How can you argue with medical opinion?

How do you counter measure the wild claims made by some Orthopeadic/Nuero experts, “that the accident aggravated pre existing degenerative changes of the cervical spine”. This is quite clearly an Insurance Company “get out” excuse that “joint single expert”doctors will re-inforce for a fee. No doctor can tell you what part of your cervical spine has been damaged, reason being an MRI cannot show microscopic damage to the Facet joints within the vertabrae. They are guessing, period!. Every single human being on this planet has degeneration of the cervical spine (neck). It is a fact of life. You had this disease at the time of the accident but caused no problems but now afterwards you are suffering and make no mistake the condition can become chronic lasting many many years.
I have been rear ended four times over 20 years so I am writing from experience. What I really dont understand is that my last accident trapped a nerve in my neck at C8-T1, (confirmed by MRI) but according to the Joint single expert it’s down to degeneration! These experts who make these ridiculous claims should be reported to the GMC!
although my Hospital Nuero Surgeons say otherwise. I rest my case.

The frustration you have regarding disagreement on the contents of a medical experts report in to an injury suffered in a non-fault accident and to what extent an expert may attribute symptoms to an accident or to degeneration is understandable.

The problem is that nobody can look in to the future or know what the future holds. Therefore, it is not possible to say with certainty that the symptoms of pain or discomfort that are noticed after an accident would not have developed naturally in years to come.

The vast majority of medical expert reports confirm that the injuries and symptoms that they have been asked to assess were fully caused by the accident that forms the basis of the claim for compensation and most claimants are happy with the outcome. However, for those claimants who are left disappointed with the contents of a medical report, their frustration (and that of their specialist Solicitor) is understandable.

Hi Ian
Thank you for your very informative response. Over the years I have dealt with “experts” whose very expensive reports would make fine comedy scripts with one joker even advising on vehicle crumple zones!! Very much against the rules of expert evidence. What the main problem with expert reports is that due to the mechanics and nature of neck injury most of the injury cannot be seen, so look at medical history of client, consider age, well yes, cervical spine degeneration, broad blanket covers all. The majority of these experts I have dealt with clearly do not understand the huge forces involved with rear end shunts. Many hundreds of people have been denied the proper level of compensation due to negligent medical reports that the lay man cannot reasonably challenge. I challenge my experts through CPR 35 .4 questions which most lay people are unaware of.
A fantastic and very informative site Ian, well done and keep your good work.

Thank you for your kind comments. We appreciate that the system is not perfect and that many of the cards are held by the well funded and powerful insurance lobby – which makes succeeding with a claim for personal injury compensation far from easy.

With this in mind, it is why we have tried to make our service and our website a strong and accurate resource for prospective claimants in order that people looking to pursue a claim for personal injury compensation can do so understanding their rights, knowing what they should expect and what they can do to give their claim the very best prospect of success.

A few days ago i was driving behind a delivery truck, the driver missed his turn so stopped suddenly and put it in reverse so I stopped but before i had chance to start reversing he’d backed straight into me. He admitted to being at fault at the scene, we exchanged details and left it at that. However, today my shoulders and neck have stiffened up and become quite painful. Would I have a valid claim?

You would absolutely be able to make a claim for the developing ‘whiplash’ related symptoms you are noticing. Injuries such as whiplash which are of a soft tissue nature are commonly not immediately obvious. Certainly with people suffering whiplash type symptoms after a car accident, it is not uncommon for the injuries to start to develop after 48-72 hours post accident. If you have not already done so, you should report the incident to your own car insurance provider so that they can resolve the claim for any damage to your vehicle.

You should attend Hospital or a GP surgery regarding your symptoms and explain to them how they were caused. Once this is done, you should contact us so that we can get your claim up and running with our specialist Solicitors.

Hi I was a passenger in an uber taxi we was at traffic lights and a car hit us hard. I suffered trapezius muscle injury from which I had to go to the doctors for, they prescribed me painkillers and stomach tablets. Can I claim?

Yes, you can certainly claim compensation in this matter and we would be happy to help you make your claim. Do you have records of the vehicles involved or the Uber in which you were travelling?