Of the most common injuries victims suffer from in car crashes, traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) have one of the biggest media profiles. After all, a TBI serves as a potential life-altering injury with a huge impact on its victims.
In order to reduce the chance of suffering from this permanent damage, quick treatment proves crucial. Thus, recognizing and identifying a TBI is crucial for those around victims at the time of a crash.
Immediate signs of severe TBIs
Mayo Clinic examines the potential impacts of a car crash, including brain injuries and head trauma. More severe head injuries such as TBIs will often manifest in somewhat obvious signs fairly quickly.
For example, sufferers of TBIs could slip into a coma or another state of unconsciousness soon after taking the blow to the head. Others will experience pronounced and extreme confusion and disorientation. Some people cannot even recognize where they are, or recall what they were doing or where they intended to go.
Other symptoms that appear over days
Mild to moderate head injuries have a less extreme profile, though. For example, they may suffer from a headache that seems mild at first but worsens over a period of hours or days. Any headache after a crash should not get ignored, as it could indicate the possibility of internal bleeding or bruising, among other injuries.
In general, it is best to seek medical care after a crash, even for those who think they “feel fine”. Damage might take a while to manifest even in more severe cases at times, and it is best to rule out the possibility of severe head injury or get treatment sooner rather than later.
