Pain in the neck

WE epidemiologists hold the short straw when it comes to perks of the job. Many of our colleagues in other branches of science get to travel to exotic climes, hunting out their subjects among coral reefs or deep within majestic rainforests. But our interest is the study of diseases within a human population, and the natural habitat of our specimens is the city, not the beach. This is particularly true for those like me whose specialty is whiplash injury, the neck pain that follows traffic accidents – especially the low-speed accidents that happen in urban areas with lots of traffic…