ABSTRACT
In the workplace, neck and back pain may occur in relation to ergonomic and postural factors, but increasingly it is recognized that for occupations that involve driving, spinal pain may occur in the setting of motor vehicle collisions. Motor vehicle collisions are a common cause of musculoskeletal trauma, with soft-tissue injury of the spine, namely whiplash injury, accounting for as many as 90% of all collision-related injuries [2,3]. Whiplash injury, excluding neurological injury and fractures, is a diagnosis made on the order of 100,000 times per year in Canada, and results in over a billion dollar per year in treatment and disability costs [3]. The ergonomist and occupational health professional must therefore become increasingly familiar with the research concerning whiplash injury mechanisms.
