- 160-370% increase in risk for headache, thoracic and low back pain, fatigue or other sleep issues, relative to others involved in rear-end crashes
- Over a span of 15.5 years, 70% of patients followed continued to report symptoms relating to the original crash
- Between years 10 and 15.5, only 18% reported improvement, while 28% reported a worsening state. This is relative to the 54% that stayed the same
How Insurance Carriers Deal with Minor Impact Soft Tissue Cases
When you hear of a minor fender bender and one of the parties claims they're experiencing whiplash, what's your first thought? For many people the answer is, “That guy's faking it.” Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the MIST (Minor Impact Soft Tissue) cases and the propaganda behind such.
MIST stands for “minor impact soft tissue.” Launched in the mid 90s by US automobile insurance providers, the theory claims that it's impossible to sustain a permanent or serious injury in a low-property damage or low speed collision. Almost all American insurers have adopted this theory, but there is very little scientific evidence to validate this claim. The studies that refuted the existence of late whiplash or other injuries were plagued with poor methodology, according to a 2005 study by CJ Centeno, M Freeman, and WL Elkins.
MIST relies on the idea that the visible damage of the vehicles and occupant are closely linked. The fundamental assertion is that there is a linear relationship between the intensity of the impact, based on the change in velocity) and the rate of serious injury. However, the review showed that variables such as stiffness and elasticity of vehicles, the interplay between seat design, occupant mass, occupant position and vehicle dynamics are not taken into account by MIST. This means that there are serious issues with the MIST methodology. In a study by M Krafft, et. al. demonstrated that injuries occuring at 15 and 13 x g (or 15 and 13 times gravity) had serious neck injuries, but were not the highest changes in velocity. In the end this leads to the conclusion that there is no direct correlation between a change in velocity and the risk of injury, a fundamental assertion of MIST.
For some patients, whiplash is a complex condition, that is not sufficiently classified by modern medicine. Studies show that persons who experienced long term whiplash were more likely for future problems, including: