Whiplash consequences range from mild pain that disappears after a few days to severe disability caused by restricted head movement and persistent pain.
Diagnosing this pathology can at times be difficult, since it is often a subjective impression of the patient, who must answer questions about pain in movement by the doctor. No clear standard exist to diagnose whiplash, and doctors usually resort to using standard tables listing the possible range of motion of the human head - if a patient cannot achieve the full motion, it is probable that the reason is pain and/or injury caused by the whiplash.
A rising percentage of car accidents result in a refund claim based on whiplash. Partly it is due to increased awareness of the problem, but it is probable that the difficulty in diagnose this patology makes it easy to raise false claims.