One of the leading causes of fatalities and grave injury following an auto accident are traumatic brain injuries. In fact, as many as 30% of all traumatic brain injuries are caused from auto accidents. This type of injury can range from mild to severe, according to how much damage the brain sustained. While certain symptoms of a traumatic brain injury may appear immediately following the accident, others take longer to manifest. Brain injuries which result from car accidents usually include a intense crack to the individual’s head when the driver or a passenger’s head comes into contact with a hard surface of the car—namely the steering wheel, door, or windshield of the car. Traumatic brain injuries are much more common in head-on crashes or in side impact car accidents than they are in rear-end accidents.
The Silent Epidemic
Traumatic brain injury has been called the “silent epidemic” because the official numbers probably vastly underestimate the true size of the issue. Traumatic brain injuries can do substantial damage, leaving no visible signs of the damage behind, and is often simply dismissed as a bump on the head. It is believed that many people who look perfectly fine have been altered in some way on the inside due to the injury. In an ironical twist, the very devices which save lives, such as seatbelts and airbags, have led to an increase in people with traumatic brain injuries simply because without that protective equipment the crash would have killed them.
How Brain Trauma Occurs
Trauma to the head actually injures the brain in two separate locations; the first causes what is known as a “coup” injury which then bounces the brain within the skull, causing a secondary “coup.” In simpler terms, the brain’s soft tissues slam against the hard wall of the skull, and nerve fibers are stretched to the max, then ripped, leading to cell death in the days following the injury. A thorough neurological exam is critical following an auto accident in which the brain was injured. The neurologist will use several methods to determine the extent of your injuries, including a CT scan, an MRI and X-rays.
Symptoms of Mild Brain Injury
Many people sustain head bumps and bruises during an auto accident, and many believe they are “just fine,” and that the injury was not even worth having a doctor look at. Days or weeks later, these same people may feel slightly dazed or out of sorts, may have headaches, lightheadedness, some dizziness and blurred vision, and even mood changes, fatigue and difficulty sleeping. All of these symptoms are common to a mild brain injury, and usually will decrease over time. Even if you believe your head bump is nothing serious, it’s always a good idea to have your doctor look you over and make sure there is no serious damage.
Serious Traumatic Brain Injuries
People who suffer a more serious brain injury will almost always have more immediate symptoms. These symptoms include more serious forms of memory loss, slurred speech and a loss of consciousness, seizures, loss of coordination, and seriously erratic mood swings and emotions. Traumatic brain injuries can make profound changes in a person’s mental processing capabilities, and these changes can be permanent. A person who has suffered a serious traumatic brain injury can have slowed thinking, muddled memory and impaired judgment, and while therapy can help the injured cope with the changes, it will not repair the damage.
It’s imperative that you hire a Nashville personal injury attorney immediately following your auto accident. In the case of traumatic brain injuries, the medical costs can mount up quickly and alarmingly, and, depending on the extent of the injury to the brain, you may be unable to return to work for a while—or ever, in some cases.
