Car accidents can lead to all kinds of damage to your body, but one of the worst traumas is a car accident head injury. Hitting the steering wheel, windshield, or side windows of your vehicle during a crash can result in Traumatic Brain Injuries or TBIs.
In fact, you can suffer a TBI even if your head didn’t hit anything. The force of the collision can cause your brain to move inside your skull.
After a car accident, you should always see a doctor and get evaluated for a head injury. Even when a crash seems minor, you can suffer damage to your brain that needs treatment. Here is what you should know about experiencing a head injury in a car accident.
How Do Head Injuries Happen in Car Accidents?
According to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nearly 300,000 of the 1.7 million TBIs diagnosed each year result from automotive collisions. Car accidents are the leading cause of TBI-related death for individuals aged 5-24.
The most common kinds of car crashes that lead to head injuries are:
- Head-on: The impact caused when the front of your car hits a stationary object or another vehicle can slam your head into the steering wheel or windshield.
- Rear-end: When you are hit from behind, you often suffer whiplash along with potential closed head injury from your brain moving rapidly back and forth in your skull.
- T-bone: When another vehicle hits you on the side of your car or truck, your head could be forced into the window.
- Rollover: Rollover crashes are some of the most dangerous and deadly since occupants could be hit with flying objects inside the vehicle, thrown outside, or slammed into various surfaces.
Head injuries happen during a car accident because your head and neck can move more freely than your body at the moment of impact. Many people suffer whiplash, which is damage to the muscles and tendons of the neck. However, that same sudden movement that strains tissue in the neck and shoulders can force your brain to crash into your skull.
There are numerous ways your brain can be affected when this happens. Many of the resulting conditions can leave you with astronomical medical bills. You may also require months or years of therapy to fully recover – if it’s even possible. Some victims of TBIs never return to their former way of living and must adjust to a permanent cognitive and / or physical disability.
Traumatic Brain Injury in Detail
Many people are knocked unconscious during a crash, even if only for a short while. If a car accident injury victim also suffers a reduction in oxygen to the brain, catastrophic medical conditions can result. Secondary injuries often occur when the brain tissue begins to swell in response to the original damage. If the pressure is not relieved, the person risks permanent damage or death.
You may experience even more dramatic injuries if objects fly around the passenger cabin or debris from other vehicles enters the car. Penetrating wounds to the skull are frequently fatal, but small pieces of metal or glass can also embed themselves into the braincase and cause significant damage. Regardless of how you receive your head injury in a car accident, you will need immediate medical attention.
Types of Head Injuries You May Suffer in a Car Accident
Car accident victims can suffer a wide range of head injuries in a crash. Each one causes more damage than the last, and victims can be left in a coma or vegetative state without immediate and proper medical treatment. Some injuries may be obvious when you are receiving medical attention right after the crash, but others could be “silent.”
Whether you feel fine or not after a car accident, you must be evaluated by a medical professional within 24 hours. You could have injuries that are not immediately apparent, and brain injuries are frequently undiagnosed until the victim collapses or experiences major issues. Getting assessed not only protects your health but also establishes a link between the car accident and your injuries, meaning you have a stronger claim for compensation.
Concussions
This is the most common head injury suffered in car accidents, occurring when the brain slams against the inside of the skull. Concussions can result from sudden stopping, hitting something with your head, or being hit by an object. Symptoms include mild nausea, headache, dizziness, and blurred vision.
People usually recover from concussions in one to two months. They are said to experience Post-Concussion Syndrome (PCS) if the effects last longer than six weeks.
Contusions
Cerebral contusions involve bruising of the brain tissue. When you hit your head hard enough that your brain is more severely damaged than a concussion, you can experience one of three kinds of contusions:
- Coup: The brain is injured directly under the area of impact.
- Contrecoup: The brain is injured on the opposite side of the skull from the impact.
- Coup-contrecoup: The brain is injured twice, once at the point of impact and again on the opposite side.
The names come from the French words for “blow” and “counterblow.” Coup-contrecoup injuries are naturally more severe since they commonly affect the frontal cortex under the forehead and the cerebellum at the back of the head. The frontal cortex handles higher thinking functions, and the cerebellum controls movement and balance.
In addition, the force required to cause a contusion can be significant enough to tear tissue or break blood vessels in the brain.
Diffuse Axonal Injury
A diffuse axonal brain injury will substantially affect your cognitive function. Damage happens when the nerve fibers of the brain are sheared or torn due to twisting forces, such as during a car accident. This could leave you without the ability to reason, concentrate, or communicate. Victims often suffer dizziness, confusion, and issues with speech. They may also fall into a coma.
Penetrating Head Injury
Loose objects in your car can penetrate your skull, as can items from outside the vehicle. In addition to bleeding and cranial damage, the brain is often torn or crushed in this kind of head injury. Victims often experience catastrophic loss of function or die from this kind of TBI.
When a Brain Injury Happens Is Crucial
The timing of your brain injury can substantially impact how well you can recover. A primary injury occurs suddenly, such as when your head hits the steering wheel. Your brain function will be affected right away. You could lose consciousness, be unable to think clearly, or lose control of your movement.
A secondary brain injury can happen in the minutes or hours after the car accident. This can result from swelling or bleeding of the brain inside the skull. If the brain is compressed in the cranium when it swells, victims can pass out, lose cognitive function, experience hearing or vision loss, or be unable to walk.
While the effects of a primary injury may wear off quickly, they could also get worse and develop into a secondary injury as time passes. The longer you wait to get medical treatment, the greater the damage can be. Your medical costs will be higher, and the chances of making a full recovery go down substantially.
Brain Injury Severity and Symptoms
Brain injuries can be mild, moderate, or severe. They all share similar symptoms, but some are more debilitating as the level of damage increases. Symptoms include:
- Dizziness
- Difficulty swallowing or speaking
- Inability to understand what others are saying
- Insomnia or sleep disturbances
- Losing consciousness or struggling to stay awake
- Loss of coordination
- Memory loss
- Mood swings
- Nausea
- Vomiting
Mild TBIs
Mild TBIs can result in headaches, drowsiness, dizziness, blurred speech, and temporary memory loss. Victims may also be sensitive to light or sound until they fully recover. They often have difficulty sleeping and may experience mood changes.
Moderate TBIs
Moderate brain injuries can cause these same symptoms, along with a loss of consciousness for minutes or hours. Headaches are often severe and get worse over time. Victims may vomit frequently and have difficulty moving around. They may experience disorientation and struggle to wake up.
Severe TBIs
Severe TBI victims may have clear fluid leaking from their noses or ears. This is cerebrospinal fluid, and a leak indicates a severe injury where the membrane covering the brain has ruptured. Victims may also often suffer seizures, convulsions, and numbness in their extremities and may even slip into a coma.
