TBI is not characterized by the manner in which a fracture is described. The victim of an accident such as a fall, a low-speed car crash, or a sports injury could come out seeming slightly stunned, only to later have symptoms of a hidden disorder manifest after several hours or even days.
Roughly 3% of the U.S. population report sustaining a TBI in a 12-month period, according to Science Direct. Non-fatal TBIs create annual productivity losses surpassing $19.1 billion, driven mostly by inability to work and presenteeism.
But what are the most common examples of TBI? And how does it affect an individual's ability to function in their everyday life?
Understanding common traumatic brain injury cases helps victims and families recognize the severity of the damage, pursue recovery, and explore legal options when needed.
Falls continue to be the primary cause of TBIs, followed by motor vehicle crashes, being struck, and assault, based on information collected by the CDC. Sports and recreational injuries make up another sizable percentage, especially among younger people, an issue that the CDC closely monitors through its HEADS UP concussion awareness program.
The suddenness of the incident is its common denominator. A TBI does not happen as the result of anything anyone planned on doing. And this unpredictability is part of why it is so important to recognize it.
Albuquerque personal injury attorney Rachel Berenson, who handles TBI cases, regularly sees this same unpredictability play out across very different fact patterns, a vehicle crash one week and a nursing home fall the next, each producing an injury with no obvious warning sign beforehand and no single mechanism connecting the cases except the brain's vulnerability to sudden force.
Misunderstood most commonly is the link between brain imaging and diagnosis. Normal results from a CT scan or an MRI do not rule out the presence of a brain injury. The clinical guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention concerning mild TBI and concussion explicitly mentions that there is no need for any brain image in order to diagnose a concussion, and a patient may sustain a significant injury even when his/her brain image looks fine.
Indeed, in cases of milder TBI the injury is done at microscopic levels, affecting nerves rather than blood and other structures, as can be seen from clinical studies supported by the National Institutes of Health.
Traumatic brain injury functions as an umbrella term covering several distinct conditions. Each of them with its own severity and recovery pattern, as outlined by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
Concussion is the most frequently seen symptom. There is a temporary disturbance of brain function, which is not always visualized using imaging studies. Contusion refers to the bruising of brain tissue leading to either swelling or bleeding, depending upon severity.
Diffuse axonal injury results from acceleration-deceleration injury, where the stretching of nerves occurs due to movement of the brain within the skull, typically in cases of severe car accidents. Penetrating injury refers to the damage of brain tissue resulting directly from penetration of the brain through a hole made in the skull.
Each category carries a different prognosis, which is part of why an accurate diagnosis early on, often confirmed with input from a brain injury attorney's medical experts when a claim is involved, shapes the entire course of treatment that follows.
The symptoms of a TBI rarely present as a single, consistent picture, since the timeline of how they emerge varies considerably from person to person.
In the immediate aftermath of an injury, typical symptoms include confusion, dizziness, headache, nausea, and inability to concentrate, all of which are listed in detail by the CDC's guidelines for symptoms and signs. A few people will pass out temporarily.
Cognitive fatigue, problems with memory, mood changes, and light or noise sensitivities may become much more serious later on, sometimes only manifesting themselves after attempts are made to resume work or regular activities.
Promptly seeking medical evaluation following a head injury, including those that may at first appear trivial, allowing a healthcare professional to assess the extent of the injury and rule out, if necessary, the less common scenarios that involve bleeding or swelling that need immediate attention.
In brain injury lawsuits, a brain injury lawyer may focus on the promptness of the medical evaluation of an injury, which could be used by insurance companies as a basis to challenge the extent of the injury due to the absence of immediate medical attention.
But in the cases of TBI where the injury is less severe, the sooner the diagnosis, the better. Rest, gradual increase in physical and mental activity, and monitoring of symptoms would greatly help improve results.
There are some specific symptoms that require an immediate visit to the doctor and cannot be ignored. They include unconsciousness, even for a brief period, or increased confusion later on, repeated vomiting or headaches instead of getting better, slurred speech, weakness or numbness anywhere on the body, any seizure after the head trauma, or any changes in the person’s level of awareness, like being unable to wake up the injured person or extreme sleepiness.
All of these symptoms, especially if they develop or get worse after the head injury, are signs that require medical help immediately and not just observation to see what happens.
Brain injuries vary from injuries that don’t even show up on a scan to those that have extremely bad consequences, and the types of brain injuries that happen the most often are those that can be easily overlooked or underplayed. The normal scan makes people think that there was no threat, but this does not mean anything else.
Being aware of the true extent of what constitutes a TBI, as well as being concerned enough about their symptoms that evaluation is sought out, will prove to be the best and surest way of catching them early on.
