Martial arts and whiplash compensation

The martial arts have now overtaken boxing as the world's most popular full body contact sport. The wider public are slowly becoming conscious of this change as martial arts gain a stronger foothold in our media and communities.

What is less popularly recognised however, is the potential for whiplash injury in the martial arts and consequent whiplash compensation claims.

In fact, the whiplash injury effect of a number of martial arts moves is comparable to that of a being involved in a rear-end car accident. As the popularity of martial arts in the UK increases at an exponential rate, so too does the risk of martial arts centres becoming involved in costly whiplash compensation claims.

With this in mind, it is pertinent to look at the kind of martial arts moves that risk whiplash compensation claims similar to the kinds familiar from car accident claims involving whiplash injury.

The following whiplash injury phenomena were observed by researchers from the British Journal for Sports Medicine who were investigating martial arts manoeuvres:

The O Goshi manoeuvre - This move, where one fighter swings another over his shoulder then hips, risks triggering a whiplash compensation claim.

The suplex - This move, where one fighter swings another by the waist and up over his shoulders until he falls flat on his face, risks triggering a whiplash compensation claim.

The guillotine drop - This move, rather self-explanatorily named, has the obvious risk of provoking a whiplash compensation claim.

The souplesse - This move, in which one fighter is lifted twisted and thrown down on his back, has a high probability of leading to a whiplash compensation claim.

Martial arts and insurance for serious personal injuries
The same research that paralleled whiplash injuries in martial arts with whiplash injuries in car accident claims points out that not enough is being done to address the issue.

With their increasing popularity, martial arts centres are eventually going to have to make progress in this area.

The potential for no win, no fee compensation claims against martial arts centres and schools has been described by one prominent personal injury solicitor as 'a potential time bomb'.

It has been suggested that they could take their lead from similarly high-risk sporting leisure activities such as horse riding and car racing. Both horse riding centres and car racing organisations take out costly personal injury insurance schemes covering them in the event of spinal injury claims, whiplash compensation claims, car accident claims as well as a host of other personal injury eventualities.

Among all the talk of the dangers of these sporting leisure activities it is worth remembering the benefits they bring to people's lives. They often boost fitness, confidence and character, so this must be offset against the relatively high probability of them causing a whiplash compensation claim.

Making a whiplash compensation claim
If you have received a whiplash injury in a car accident or sporting mishap you may be entitled to claim compensation.

Making a no win, no fee compensation claim with Car Accident Advice Line is a straightforward process. Once we have established the validity of your claim, we will hand you over to the tried and tested hands of our solicitors, who have a reassuring success rate in dealing with whiplash claims.

Even more reassuring is the fact that at no stage in the no win, no fee claim process will you incur any fees from us. That's right, win or lose we protect your purse as we understand that the person who matters most is you - the claimant.

So if you would like to contact us to get your claim in motion you can choose from one of three ways: Request a call back, fill out an online claim form, or call us on 0808 143 43 42.