Other modes of injury include a fall with impact on head or face, assault with direct blow to the head or upper back or violent shaking of the body. Contact sports also can result in such injuries.

Symptoms include neck and upper back pain, head aches and stiffness of the neck. Rarely, neurological symptoms like numbness or weakness in the upper or lower limbs may also be found after a whiplash injury.

The symptoms may lead to irritability and mental stress, inability to concentrate on work, sometimes leading to change of job or loss of employment in a small percentage. Although a secondary gain behaviour is blamed in some of these patients, the significant chronic pain being the cause cannot be completely ruled out.

Most of the patients with acute whiplash injury get better in a few weeks with rest, medications and physiotherapy and exercises. But the symptoms may persist beyond 12 weeks in some of them and lead to chronic neck pain and related disability (chronic whiplash syndrome). Severe initial symptoms, age more than 35 years, females are at a higher risk of developing chronic symptoms of whiplash injury.

The severity of a whiplash injury can be reduced by having a head rest in the vehicles that limitation the backward excursion of the head in the event of a rear end collision. Although there is no certain way of averting such injuries completely, exercises to keep the neck and upper back muscles stronger may help reduce the intensity of the injury.