Glossary | California Soft Tissue Injury Desk

Bodily injury liability: The coverage that pays for injuries the policyholder causes to others, up to the policy limits (post-SB 1107 minimum: $30,000 per person / $60,000 per accident).
Causation: The documented link between the collision and the injury — established by the timeline of first evaluation, symptom log, and records.
Cervical: The neck region — the seven cervical vertebrae and their supporting soft tissue; the whiplash zone.
CT (computed tomography): Imaging that resolves detailed bone; used where a fracture is suspected but not resolved on plain films.
Delayed onset: The common pattern in which soft-tissue symptoms build over 24–72 hours or longer after the injury event.
Documentation gap: The absence of dated records between injury and complaint — the gap that makes a real injury hard to establish later.
First-party claim: A claim on your own policy: medical payments coverage or UM/UIM.
Grade I / II / III: The AAOS severity grades for sprains and strains: stretch, partial tear, complete tear.
Ligament: The band of tissue joining bone to bone across a joint; injured by a sprain.
Lumbar: The low-back region — the five lumbar vertebrae and their supporting soft tissue.
MRI (magnetic resonance imaging): The imaging study that resolves soft tissue — ligaments, tendons, discs, muscle — without radiation.
Myofascial: Pertaining to muscle and its surrounding connective tissue (fascia) — the tissues most crash strains involve.
QTF: The Quebec Task Force on Whiplash-Associated Disorders — the 1995 panel whose WAD classification remains the standard.
Range of motion (ROM): The measured arc a joint moves through — a standard exam finding used in grading and progress notes.
SB 1107: California's 2022 law raising minimum auto liability limits to 30/60/15 for policies issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2025.
Seatbelt sign: The diagonal bruise pattern left by the shoulder belt — noted in records as evidence of restraint use and load path.
Soft tissue: Muscle, tendon, and ligament — the tissues that move and stabilize the body, as opposed to bone.
Sprain: A stretch or tear of a ligament.
SR-1: California's written traffic accident report to the DMV, due within 10 days for collisions involving injury, death, or qualifying property damage (Vehicle Code §20008).
Statute of limitations: The filing deadline for a lawsuit: two years for California personal injury (Code of Civil Procedure §335.1).
Strain: A stretch or tear of a muscle or tendon.
Tendon: The cord attaching muscle to bone; injured by a strain.
Third-party claim: A claim against the at-fault driver's liability policy.
UM/UIM: Uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage on your own policy — required unless waived in writing (Insurance Code §11580.2).
WAD: Whiplash-associated disorder — the Quebec Task Force's grades 0–IV classification of whiplash injuries.
Whiplash: The common name for the cervical injury pattern from rapid acceleration-deceleration.