A NEW DIAGNOSTIC SIGN IN NECK INJURIES.

The aggravation of neck pain and headache as a result of the use of diathermy or other forms of energy in the treatment of neck sprain may represent a diagnostic sign by which to distinguish severe injury of the neck from simple sprain. In the case of simple neck sprain, the patient's complaints may be inadvertently continued more or less indefinitely by the use of high frequency energy or even locally applied heat. That recovery sometimes follows settlement of litigation in such cases may be due not to the award of money but to discontinuance of an aggravating medical treatment.