Traumatic Brain Injury Claims: Myth #2 You Have to Hit Your head to Suffer a Brain Injury
It’s very important for people to understand the certain parameters that revolve around head injuries and TBIs, because blunt force head trauma most certainly isn’t the only way an individual can suffer brain damage.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), traumatic brain injuries are a serious public health concern throughout the United States and beyond, and this includes statistical gathering of concussion and mild TBI patients.
Our traumatic brain injury information page will provide you with more information pertaining to TBIs their common causes. Although this page is about how it’s not necessary to endure head trauma, it’s still important to understand the symptoms and causes of traumatic brain injuries on a grand scale, including:
- Head trauma
- Loss of consciousness
- Brain damage
- Skull fractures
- Brain bruising
- Memory loss
- Intracranial pressure
- Blood flow issues
- Brain function deficiencies
- Blurred vision
- Much, much more…
Although penetrating head injuries are a common cause of severe traumatic brain injuries, there are countless cases of more mild traumatic brain injuries that don’t involve serious head trauma. On this page we’re going to debunk the idea that you have to endure a head injury in order to suffer from a severe TBI, and by going through this health care and legal information pertaining to such severe injuries you’ll be much more informed in terms of protecting you and your family members from all forms of brain trauma.
If you or a family member has suffered from a TBI that didn’t involve head trauma, contact us today for a free consultation so we can better understand the circumstances of the injury and begin the necessary first steps the injury victim’s normal function and your rightful compensation.
Do You Have to Endure a Head Injury to Suffer a Traumatic Brain Injury?
Most people think that in order to injure your brain tissue and experience any kind of severe brain damage, you actually have to hit your head on something. This is one of the most unfortunate myths of traumatic brain injuries.
Although it’s true that many severe traumatic brain injuries involve some kind of head trauma, many people who have suffered a TBI or concussion don’t get CT scans/magnetic resonance imaging (MRIs), or visit their local emergency department in a timely fashion to receive professional health care treatment, because they don’t realize that it’s possible to endure legitimate brain damage without striking your head.
The truth is that there are countless mild injuries that can damage blood vessels and cause serious brain damage without a legitimate penetrating head injury even occurring!
The Anatomy of the Skull:
In order to understand why this TBI myth is incorrect you have to learn a little about the anatomy and normal function of our skulls.
The inside of the skull isn’t smooth like the inside of a bowl. The base of the inside of your skull is rough with several bony ridges or spikes. These ridges can cause a mild traumatic brain injury during periods of rapid acceleration and deceleration, including diffuse axonal injuries that result when the nerve fibers within someone’s brain begin to tear.
Diffuse axonal injuries typically will result a scoring on the Glasgow coma scale (GCS), according to clinical trials conducted by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS).
Like a Sponge in a Bucket:
Have you ever used a sponge in a bucket of water to wash your car’s exterior, floors and windows? The easiest way I have found to explain how someone can suffer brain damage without a penetrating head injury is to think of the sponge floating in the middle of a bucket of water.
The bucket represents your skull, the water the cerebrospinal fluid that surrounds your brain and the sponge is your brain. If you swing the bucket back and forth, the sponge will tend to float in the center of the bucket. But if you suddenly stop swinging the bucket the sponge will bump against the inside of the bucket, which is characteristic of brain contusions and other forms of bruising.
The same thing can happen to your brain if your head gets whipped back and forth. This type of injury commonly happens in rear-end or head-on collisions where the driver’s or passenger’s head suddenly whips back and forth and stops suddenly, or within just about any motor vehicle accidents in which a passenger wasn’t wearing their seatbelt. This type of sudden stop can cause an array of injuries, including serious spinal cord injuries, but it can also cause contusions in which the individual’s brain bumps up against the inside of the skull.
Serious brain damage can occur in the area of impact, and can even lead to more cranial issues like a subdural hematoma and blood clots. Computed tomography can help TBI patients better know what exactly happened to them when they didn’t hit their head but are experiencing many common symptoms associated with mild traumatic brain injuries.
So it is possible to seriously injure your brain without hitting your head and without ever losing consciousness. The National Institutes of Health has stated that the best way to prevent severe traumatic brain injuries of all types is through injury prevention, so it’s absolutely imperative to always wear your seatbelt and make sure that older adults have care providers looking after them each and every day!
How Do I Know if I Have Suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury?
Sometimes head trauma and brain damage are so significant to the point that the TBI is obvious. But there are countless other cases, especially when the person has not hit their head or not lost consciousness, in which the brain damage may be so subtle that the symptoms of brain injury are not immediately apparent.
On my website, I have listed the most common symptoms of traumatic brain injury. If you or a loved one have been in an accident and are suffering from any of the symptoms listed here, it’s very important that you seek medical attention.
Explain to your doctor that you have been injured, explain how the injury happened, and tell your doctor about the symptoms you’re experiencing. Your doctor can then decide the most appropriate way to treat your head injury and let you know what your next treatment steps should be to properly heal your TBI.
If you are looking for a Nova Scotia Brain Injury Lawyer you can contact me through this blog for a free copy of my book, The Survivors Guide to Brain Injury Claims: How to prove the invisible injury, or by calling me toll free at 1-877-423-2050.
