• Ian A Harris, Jana M Young, Bin B Jalaludin, and Michael J Solomon.
• Department of Orthopaedics, and South Western Sydney Clinical School, University of New South Wales, Liverpool Hospital, Liverpool, NSW, Australia. ianharris@unsw.edu.au
• J Orthop Surg (Hong Kong). 2011 Dec 1; 19 (3): 317-21.

PurposeTo identify possible predictors (psychosocial) of neck pain in patients with acute injuries following motor vehicle trauma.Methods221 male and 85 female patients aged 18 to 85 (mean, 38) years who had acute fractures of the humerus, radius, ulna, pelvis, femur, patella, tibia, talus or calcaneus following motor vehicle trauma were prospectively recruited. No patient sustained a cervical spine injury. Patients sustaining minor trauma were excluded. As putative predictors of neck pain, data relating to demographics, injury, socio-economic status, and compensation were collected at the time of presentation and at month 6. Neck pain was measured by adapting the bodily pain questions from the SF-36 general health survey. Simple unadjusted and multiple regression analyses were conducted. RESULTS; 232 (76%) of the 306 patients completed the 6-month questionnaire. In multiple regression analysis, neck pain at 6 months was significantly associated with female gender, having a primary level of education only, and use of a lawyer.ConclusionAdversarial legal and compensation involvement may attribute to the development and continuation of neck pain after motor vehicle trauma.

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