| TMJ Fracture | | | | square inch force. When a car deforms from a |
| You're in prevent and go traffic on the freeway. | | | | collision, it absorbs some of the kinetic energy. |
| You're doing 40 mph, then see the brake lights ahead. | | | | If a car is subject to a force that is not sufficient to |
| You fall off down. Just as you come to a complete | | | | cause a deformation but strong enough to generate |
| stop, you glance in your rear-view mirror. The body | | | | significant g-forces to the neck, then it's possible for a |
| behind you is going too fast to inhibit in time. You hear | | | | lower speed collision to cause more injury than a |
| the screech of brakes, and brace for the impact: You | | | | higher speed collision. Think about race cars: they are |
| hear a loud crash of metal, and feel a surge of power | | | | designed around this concept: upon colliding with |
| push your put a halt on car forward. You feel your | | | | another car or the racetrack wall, a race car will |
| neck arc backwards and your torso sink to your seat. | | | | disintegrate (sections will fly off, rather than stay with |
| A instant later, the car stops, but the built- up fuel in | | | | the frame). If race cars were not designed to |
| your neck causes it to flex forward, then back once | | | | disintegrate upon collision, the drivers would sustain |
| again want a whip, and finally, silence. You own just felt | | | | very serious injury as they would absorb most of the |
| a cervical acceleration-deceleration injury, or | | | | kinetic energy of the crash. TMJ Fracture |
| whiplash.The amount of damage to the spine from a | | | | Whiplash injuries result in soft tissue damage (sprains |
| whiplash accident is determined by several | | | | and strains of ligament, fascia, tendons, and muscles) |
| variables.TMJ Fracture | | | | and vertebral misalignments. The more serious variety |
| First of all, the mechanics of the crash: the velocity of | | | | can result in ligament rupture, nerve damage, vertebral |
| the vehicles involved; their relative masses, the angle of | | | | fractures, ruptured discs, spinal cord injury, hematomas |
| impact, the position of the seat headrest, whether or | | | | (blood pooling at the surface of the brain), concussion, |
| not the seatbelt was worn, and the type of bumper. | | | | and temporomandibular joint (TMJ) injury. |
| Secondly, the physical factors of the person injured: his | | | | Shortly after a typical low speed rear-ender car |
| or her height, the position of his neck at impact (turned, | | | | collision, the victim will first feel a sense of shock. The |
| looking down?), the position of his arms; whether or not | | | | neck will typically not hurt immediately. As the injured |
| he was aware of the impending collision (did he brace | | | | soft tissues slowly release inflammatory products |
| before impact, or was he relaxed?), and obviously, his | | | | (swelling), the internal pressure in the neck joints and |
| state of health at the time of the accident (history of | | | | muscles increases. This will continue for several hours, |
| neck problems?). A surprising finding in whiplash | | | | eventually peaking at 72 hours post-accident. TMJ |
| research is that oftentimes, the speed of the colliding | | | | Fracture |
| car is not always directly proportional to the amount of | | | | This is why your neck feels very stiff about 2-3 days |
| injury sustained. | | | | after the accident. Victims also typically report |
| One would think that, the faster the car was going, the | | | | fuzziness/ cloudiness in thinking, and fatigue. This is |
| stronger the whiplash force generated, and thus, the | | | | probably due to the stress to the nervous system-- |
| more injury. But that is not the case. One possible | | | | brain, nerves-- from the forces of the accident. Stop |
| explanation has to do with energy absorption. You see, | | | | suffering from TMJ anymore. Get your TMJ Fracture |
| a car body will deform (dent) at a certain pounds per | | | | ebook and live your life again! |