How to know if you’ve suffered a brain injury in an accident

If you are a licensed driver in California, chances are you will be involved in an accident at some point in your life. Thankfully, most car accidents are minor, with those involved suffering no significant injuries. However, there are instances where those involved in car accidents suffer injuries that display no symptoms, only to discover after they’ve left the scene that they have an injury. Head and brain injuries are very common for those who get into car accidents.

If you’re in a crash and hit your head, you may have no apparent symptoms and refuse medical treatment because you think you are fine. However, head and brain injuries are often symptomless at first, and this is why they are so dangerous. Any blow to the head can lead to a traumatic brain injury (TBI). Here are themost common types of brain injuriesand how to know if you’ve suffered a possible brain injury.

Concussions

Concussions are the most common types of traumatic brain injuries seen in car accident victims. Luckily, most concussions are mild and usually do not cause permanent brain injury. If you suffer a concussion, you may briefly lose consciousness and may experience dizziness or feel “dazed.”

Contusions

If you have a contusion, you may have trouble with thinking, seizures, light sensitivity and headaches. Contusions are coup or contrecoup injuries. These are bruises to a specific part of the brain caused by a blow to the head. If you suffer a coup injury, your brain has in injury directly in the impacted area, while a contrecoup injury means your brain has an injury on the opposite side of the impact.

Hematoma

A hematoma is a blood clot that forms when blood vessels rupture, causing blood to escape the normal bloodstream and clot. Head trauma from an accident can result in a hematoma that grows large enough to compress the brain. Most of the time, your body will reabsorb the clot, but sometimes surgery is necessary to remove larger clots.

Help in the aftermath of an accident

Any blow to the head can result in a brain injury. The symptoms of a brain injury may occur at the time of the injury, or they may not pop up until days later. Regardless, if you are involved in a car accident, seek medical attention as soon as possible and never try to push through injuries or tough it out. If you are in anaccident that occurred due to a negligentdriver, you may be eligible to receive financial compensation to help with any incurred medical expenses.