Can I work with whiplash?

[pete]

I was in a minor car accident this morning - I was stationary, waiting to move onto a roundabout when another driver drove into the back of me at around 20mph. I've seen a doctor and she thinks my injuries will become worse over the next few days. At the moment, my neck's stiff but my right collar bone (where my seatbelt was) is hurting a lot, the bottom of my right shoulder blade hurts and I've got some pain at the bottom of my spine.

Luckily, I'm not in work again until Friday but I work in retail and I'm working the delivery shift so there's some lifting and carrying involved. This is overtime that I really don't want to lose the money for and I don't know if I can claim for overtime wages as loss of earnings as part of my personal injury claim. Also, I have a really good sickness record and I'd like to keep it that way if at all possible because it shows reliability and ensures that I get a good amount of overtime.

If I can't lift and carry for a prolonged amount of time, it's obviously gonna be pretty detrimental to my earnings. My contract is only 8 hours a week (I'm a student) so I'd assume this will be all I can claim for. With overtime, I'm generally doing 25 hours a week and I need the money because it's summer and my next student loan instalment isn't until October.

I was wondering if others have experienced it and how long did it take to get better for them? Also, did it get worse before getting better? What can I expect?