• Head injury

Having read the study of Whittaker et al1 concerning expectations and beliefs as predictors of recovery from minor head injury, one appreciates that this is an exciting time in the epidemiological research of these types of disorders. That is, minor head injury, whiplash injury, low back pain and related controversial disorders associated with chronic pain and disability have long been approached with a biopsychosocial model. Furthermore, although more and more studies, especially in the area of whiplash, reveal that the bio component is the least relevant, the ongoing problem has been to determine where to look for the psychosocial component. The common and fertile ground for all these disorders appears to be patient-held beliefs and, as an aspect of those beliefs, their expectations. In a longitudinal cohort study of patients with minor head injury, …