[Whiplash injuries of the cervical spine and Swiss insurance against accidents (author's transl)].

The indemnity for the consequences of a whiplash injury on the cervical spine by the Swiss Insurance against Accidents is discussed. The number of these cases can be only roughly extimated. We can calculate yearly with about 600 distortions of the cervical spine resulting from motoring accidents. The definition of the whiplash injury is defined on the base of recent German literature. The supposed mechanical assumptions for a lesion of the cervical spine are based mainly on the works of Erdmann (Frandfurt). The relations between the lesion of the cervical spine an the rebound injuries of the skull are discussed. The significance of the preexistent degenerative alterations of the cervical spine in the whiplash injury and the problem of the psychogenic superposition are presented by means of 46 observed cases.