One of the most serious injuries caused by a car or truck accident is a traumatic brain injury, or TBI. Car accident victims may have many questions about a TBI they may have suffered.
What is a TBI?
How does it affect you?
What does recovery look like?
The topic is larger than one blog post can handle, but there are some general guidelines that may help you understand your situation.
What Is A Traumatic Brain Injury?
There are basically two types of TBIs: closed head injuries and open head injuries, as described by Brainline. Open head injuries involve a foreign object penetrating into the skull and generally involve more localized and focused damage to the brain. These are less common in motor vehicle accidents, but can be caused by flying debris or parts of your own vehicle.
Closed head injuries generally occur from rapid head motion in which the brain collides with the inside of the skull. This can easily happen in accidents, as the brain’s momentum continues after the vehicle comes to an abrupt stop. The impact itself can cause bruising on the brain and broken blood vessels, especially when the impact is on a part of the skull that is more rough or uneven.
These damages commonly occur where the brain strikes the skull. The axons (nerve fibers) in the brain can also be stretched or damaged from the movement and impact of the brain, which can cause increased problems and radiate throughout the brain. Bruising and broken blood vessels can be found in MRI and other scans, but no imaging technology yet exists that can identify stretching to axons. As such, these broader injuries may only be identified by the symptoms they cause.
If you have sustained a TBI in a car accident, you may experience:
- Loss of consciousness
- Difficulty concentrating
- Memory loss
- Dizziness
- Confusion and disorientation
- Headaches
- Nausea and vomiting
Effects and Recovery
The exact effects and recovery from a TBI vary by severity and person. Without direct access to an individual case, the best that can be offered are general outlines that highlight frequent traits. Measuring severity, for instance, commonly involves the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS), which rates eye opening, motor response, and verbal response. A higher severity comes with a higher chance of long-term problems. This is because loss of consciousness is one commonly measurable factor for TBIs.
The result of all of this is that individual cases require individual care. If you have been in a car accident, you need to see a doctor and find out if you are experiencing signs of TBI. Then contact us to learn about your legal options and how a car accident attorney at our law firm can help you navigate the process of getting the help you need to recover as quickly and effectively as possible.