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Women are more vulnerable to whiplash injury
according to research seat positioning influences the reasons
for this - 12th July 2008
Recent research carried out into
whiplash injuries has shown that women are three times more
likely to incur this type of injury when involved in a rear end
shunt than men, partly due to the sitting position they adopt.
The research suggests a partial explanation for their findings
is the seat positioning, with women tending to sit higher and
closer to the steering wheel with their seat backs usually in a
more upright position than their male counterparts. But for both
men and women they are twice as likely to suffer a
whiplash injury when sat in the driver’s seat rather than
the front passenger seat.
Not only are the injuries a problem
for the victims of these types of
road accidents, insurance companies pay out large amounts of
money each year in
whiplash compensation claims.
The researchers form
Umea University
in Sweden looked at insurance company
road accident data on
whiplash claims made during the 1990s from over 400
incidents.
They also carried out their own data capture of how
over 200 men and woman position their seat, and how they sat
whilst driving and while stationary.
When the research team
looked at the data from testing collisions using crash dummies
and for neck injuries in particular, it found that often the
dummies size is based on average size male and not smaller
women, particularly with regard to height.
It also found that
seat adjustment positioning significantly affected the outcome
of possible
whiplash injury when involved in collisions.
A
Royal Society for the Prevention
of Accidents (RoSPA) spokesperson said: "A properly adjusted
head restraint will help prevent whiplash by reducing the
distance between the back of the head and head restraint,
stopping the neck from bending back.
"It will also reduce the
amount of time it takes your head to initially contact the head
restraint, and increase the amount of time that your head is
supported during an accident."
He also added: "It's important
everyone adjusts the head rest as necessary - every time the car
is used if there are different drivers using it."
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