This is What Can Happen to Your Brain in a Car Accident When You Hit Your Head
Motor vehicle accidents are one of the most common causes of traumatic brain injury in the United States. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that TBI is a major cause of death and disability in the United States, and TBI's contribute to about 30% of all injury deaths. The long-term effects of traumatic brain injury include impaired thinking and memory, movement, sensation, and emotional functioning.
When you hit your head in a car accident, how does a traumatic brain injury occur?
As you are sitting in your seat in your car, it might feel as if you are sitting still, however, your body is hurtling through space at whatever rate of speed the vehicle you are riding in is going. In a collision, the vehicle comes to an abrupt stop, but your body will keep moving until it strikes an immovable object if a seat belt does not properly restrain it. The seat belt's job is to keep your body from hurtling forward and the airbag acts as a countermeasure to the forward motion of the body and tries to keep you from going through the windshield.
When your head strikes an object while it is being hurled forward, or when the vehicle is in a roll, every time your head hits something, or something hits your head, the soft, gelatinous structure of the brain sloshes around in your skull banging against the inside of the front and the back of the skull. The video contains an animation of exactly what happens to your brain during concussion.
What is a closed head injury?
If you hit your head in a motor vehicle crash, you may end up with a closed head injury. That is an injury in which the skull is not broken and the brain exposed. When the delicate and malleable material of the brain collides with the inside of the hard, bony skull axons and blood vessels that carry messages and blood flow from the brain to the rest of the body can become damaged or broken. Diffuse axonal injury (DAI) is the stretching, and tearing of the axons, which are tiny nerve fibers that facilitate communication between the brain and all functions of the body. DAI can cause the injured person to lose consciousness and can result in secondary injury because the brain is not getting adequate oxygen to function, lowered blood pressure, and increased pressure inside the skull from the swelling of the bruised brain tissues.
What are symptoms of TBI?
Some of the symptoms that can occur with traumatic brain injury after a car accident include:
- Loss of consciousness
- Slurred speech
- Nausea, vomiting
- weakness, numbness
- Decreased coordination
- Pupils not equally dilated
- Blurry vision or ringing in the ears
- Changes in mood
- Drowsiness, fatigue
There is one thing you can do to prevent traumatic brain injury from car accidents
That one thing is deceptively simple. Wear a seat belt. Wearing a seat belt especially if you are driving or sitting in the front passenger seat in a vehicle equipped with air bags will keep your body from thrown from your seat and crashing through the windshield. If you are the driver, make sure that every passenger in your car wears a seat belt on every ride in the car. If you have young children, make sure that you have a child safety seat appropriate to their age and weight and that it is installed properly. Finally, do not seat small children behind the driver's seat. Wearing a seat belt will protect you from more severe injuries in the event of a crash.
A traumatic brain injury can have lasting negative consequences in your life. When your TBI was the result of the negligent actions of another person, you can call our Gladiators in Suits for exemplary legal representation. The Nashville lawyers of the Rocky McElhaney Law Firm are here to fight for the best interests of brain injury victims in Nashville, Hendersonville, Clarksville, and throughout Tennessee. Call us today at 615-425-2500 or complete this contact form to schedule a consultation. We stand for you.
Nashville personal injury attorney Rocky McElhaney is a well-known and respected lawyer as well as published author, helping Tennesseans through difficult times since the turn of the century. Rocky builds friendships with his clients, not just professional relationships. Rocky McElhaney is a Super Lawyer, AV Rated by Martindale Hubbell, has been named a Top 100 Trial Lawyer by the National Trial Lawyers Association and has been awarded Best Lawyer in Nashville by the Nashville Scene Readers’ Poll
The Rocky McElhaney Law Firm represents people who have been injured by car accidents, truck accidents, motorcycle accidents, negligent premises owners, defective products and many other forms of negligence throughout the state of Tennessee. The firm also represents clients in the areas of workers’ compensation and Social Security Disability claims.