Mechanism vs. Injury: When the Story Doesn’t Match the Physics

If the physics and the symptoms don’t line up, the defense gets an easy narrative. Your job is to close that gap with a plain story that respects both the body and the forces involved. You don’t need a lab report. You need a clear match between how the force entered the body, which tissues would reasonably get overloaded, and how symptoms unfolded over the first few days.

Start with the vector. Where did the force come from? Was it a rear impact, a side swipe, or a sudden stop? Small details matter, in particular, head position and restraint. A head turned left at the moment of a rear impact puts the right-sided neck joints and muscles under sudden extension and rotation. That is a very different load than a straight-ahead posture. Translate it in one sentence: “Force from behind while the head was turned left created a quick extension-then-flexion; the right neck took the hit.”

Then, name the tissue. Ligaments, joint capsules, discs, and paraspinal muscles all have tolerances. A quick extension-rotation strain fits right-sided facet capsule irritation and paraspinal spasm. The same physics explains why X-rays are often normal - plain films see bones, not ligaments or muscle. If a client reports a headache, dizziness, and light sensitivity after a whip-like motion, you have a plausible concussion even with a normal CT; CT rules out bleeding, not the concussion itself.

Now set the timeline. Most soft-tissue injuries don’t peak at the curbside. Inflammation builds over 24 to 72 hours. Many people feel stiff that night, worse the next morning, and most limited on day two. That pattern is physiology, not exaggeration. If the ER chart shows paraspinal tenderness, limited rotation, and a plan for NSAIDs, a muscle relaxant, or PT, you have a clinical pathway that fits the physics and the tissue story.

This is how you preempt the “low-speed, low damage” myth. Exterior vehicle damage doesn’t reliably represent occupant force; energy can travel into the person when bumpers and crumple zones do their job. Seatback angle and headrest position can amplify extension and shear in the neck. A turned head concentrates the load on one side, which helps explain unilateral pain and occipital headaches. None of this requires jargon. It requires a human translation of “how the hit happened” into “what part of the body would complain first.”

Keep it simple in your demand. One clean paragraph can do the work: “The rear impact occurred while his head was turned left. That motion overloads the right cervical facet capsules and paraspinal muscles. He developed right-sided neck pain and headaches that worsened over 48 hours, which is typical for an inflammatory ramp. Normal X-rays are expected because ligaments and muscles don’t show on plain films. The ER’s treatment plan: NSAIDs, a muscle relaxant, and follow-up matches this injury pattern.”

If the defense leans on “normal imaging,” agree with what it truly means -  the films appropriately excluded fractures. They don’t address ligaments, discs, or the brain. If they lean on “delayed care,” explain the ramp. If they point to “minor crash photos,” point back to the body’s position and the physics inside the cabin. When the story of force, tissue, and time matches, the case breathes.

Want a plain-English mechanism-to-injury map for your file? Send the ER packet and crash description. I’ll return a one-page Vector–Tissue–Timeline you can drop into your demand.