Every driver in every first-world country is familiar with the concept of whiplash. Except for Lithuania: in this small nation, whiplash does not exist.
The idea that a common medical condition would be completely absent in a single country is extremely odd. But in fact, it might mean that the problem doesn’t actually exist anywhere.
An old New York Times article explains:
In Lithuania, rear-end collisions happen much as they do in the rest of the world. Cars crash, bumpers crumple and tempers flare. But drivers in cars that have been hit there do not seem to suffer the long-term complaints so common in other countries: the headaches or lingering neck pains that have come to be known as chronic whiplash, or whiplash syndrome.
Cars are no safer in Lithuania, and the average neck is not any stronger. The difference, a new study says, might be described as a matter of indemnity.
The study could not find a single example of a Lithuanian who had been in a car accident and still claimed to suffer from chronic neck pain more than a year later. Researchers felt that this demonstrates that whiplash is at least vastly over-reported.
Not surprisingly, the announcement created a tremendous response. A whiplash patients organization threatened a lawsuit. Many questioned whether the study was funded by the insurance industry, even though the money came from academic sources. Doctors in other countries have mixed opinions, but many find the results to be extremely interesting. Most shocked of all are the Lithuanians, who have never heard of “whiplash” at all!
Failure is the secret to success. We must sometimes question assumptions and face brutal criticism to find a way forward. Whiplash may in fact be a widely-supported myth, but critics will have a long road ahead.