Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is a common injury suffered in many types of accidents, including car accidents, motorcycle crashes, slip and falls, and collisions in many contact sports. Depending on the type of brain injury you suffered, recovery from a TBI can be a long, difficult, and expensive process.
For example, a slip and fall in the driveway may result in a minor contusion or lump on the back of the head. This may constitute a brain injury, but mild injuries like these tend to heal completely after a few days or weeks, and it is likely not to have a significant effect on your long-term ability to function normally. However, when a brain injury is more serious, such as may result from a car or motorcycle accident or a penetrating blow to the head, the prognosis for recovery may be poor and may result in months, years, or even a lifetime of disability. And a prolonged recovery from a severe TBI can be financially devastating.
This article explains the common types of TBIs, which types of traumatic brain injuries have the best and worst recovery rates, the long-term effects of a TBI, the factors that can influence recovery, and how your recovery can impact you financially.
If you or a loved one has experienced any type of brain injury resulting from a motor vehicle accident, slip and fall, or other circumstance in which you experienced whiplash or any impact to your body or head, you should contact an experienced brain injury attorney.
Whether your injury is temporary and your recovery is a speedy one, or your injuries are serious and you anticipate an extended recovery, if your TBI was caused by the negligence of another person, the Kansas City brain injury lawyers at Foster Wallace, LLC, will see that you are fully compensated for your injuries.
What Are the Different Types of Brain Injuries?
Brain injuries can vary from mild to severe depending on the type of TBI that is suffered and the damage caused to the brain. Here are several types of TBIs that often result from common falls or accidents.
Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI)
As its name suggests, a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) is a mild injury to the brain that typically results from a relatively minor blow to the head or a sudden jolt to the body that causes the head to rapidly move forward or backward, like a “whiplash.” An mTBI is what is commonly referred to as a “concussion.” It is deemed “mild” based on the temporary symptoms that often accompany the concussion. These symptoms often include:
- Headaches
- Dizziness or lightheadedness
- Neck pain
- Loss of balance
- Nausea or vomiting
- Blurred or double vision
- Tinnitus or “ringing in the ears”
- Light sensitivity
- Confusion (“in a fog”)
- Inability to focus or concentrate
- Inability to sleep
- Tiredness or fatigue
- Irritability
- Depression
These may seem like a lot of symptoms for a mild brain injury. But not everyone who suffers a concussion will experience all of these effects; you may only suffer one or two of these symptoms. Additionally, you may not experience any symptoms right away. Sometimes, the effects of a concussion set in hours or even days later. If you experience any of these symptoms—even if it has been days since you hit your head—or if you experience symptoms immediately that only worsen in the following days, you should see a medical professional right away.
Moderate Traumatic Brain Injury (Contusion and Hematoma)
A moderate TBI, which is more serious than a mild concussion, may include a contusion, which is a bruise, and a hematoma, which is a collection of blood that pools around the bruise, causing the affected area on the head or brain to swell. If the swelling occurs inside the brain, it is called an “intracranial hematoma.”
Contusions and hematomas are usually the result of a forceful impact or significant trauma to the head that affects a localized area of the brain. Because the contusion may actually damage brain tissue, a severe impact can be serious and may require immediate medical attention. However, moderate head contusions usually cause symptoms of only a slightly higher degree than those caused by a concussion. For example, the symptoms of a moderate TBI may include:
- Temporary loss of consciousness
- Localized pain
- Headaches
- Confusion and disorientation
- Memory loss
- Slurred speech
- Weakness in the arms and legs
- Drowsiness
- Vomiting
- Irritability
As long as the injury is treated and stabilized quickly and the injured person rests, a moderate TBI usually will not have any long-term effects on the victim’s functioning and abilities. If the injury is not treated and worsens, however, the symptoms may also worsen and may take much longer to heal.
Diffuse Axonal Injury (DAI)
Diffuse axonal injury (DAI) is a type of TBI that occurs when the brain suddenly shifts or moves inside the skull, causing the brain’s axons, which are nerve fibers that connect different parts of the brain, to shear or tear. This can occur in a car accident in which there is a heavy impact and the head or body of a person in the car is suddenly jolted back and forth.
Depending on the severity of the damage to the connective axons in the brain, a victim of DAI may experience:
- Unconsciousness
- Coma
- Cognitive impairment
- Physical disability
- Emotional trauma
If the damage to the axons is not significant and the nerve fibers, though damaged, remain connected, a victim of DAI may experience partial recovery of their function and ability over time. However, where DAI results in irreparable damage to the nerve tissues, the victim is likely to experience long-term physical disability.
Penetration or Structural Brain Injury
In a serious car accident involving a heavy impact with significant car damage, pieces of metal and glass can be propelled in all directions, becoming dangerous projectiles, like bullets fired from a gun. Such foreign objects can easily penetrate or fracture a person’s skull during an accident, causing significant structural damage to the skull or brain.
A penetrating head trauma or structural injury to the skull and brain tissue usually leaves the victim with some sort of physical or neurological disability, depending on the area of the brain that is damaged. Permanent, or even partial, recovery of the motor or sensory skills that are associated with the damaged area of the brain is highly unlikely.
“Deficiency” Brain Injury
There are two other types of brain injury that are not commonly experienced during the immediate impact and physical trauma of an accident, but that may occur as a result of complications from injuries suffered during an accident. Both forms of brain injury involve a deficiency in the vital components of brain function—oxygen and blood.
Oxygen Deficiency
When brain cells do not receive the oxygen they need to function and survive, they become damaged or die. Oxygen deficiency in the brain may be caused by nearly drowning, suffering a heart attack or stroke, or suffering from smoke inhalation. Damage to the brain caused by a partial deprivation of oxygen is called a “hypoxic” brain injury. Damage resulting from a complete deprivation of oxygen is called an “anoxic” brain injury. The extent of the damage to the brain from either type of injury will depend on how long the brain endured a lack of oxygen.
Blood Deficiency
When the brain is impacted and bleeds, or when blood flow to the brain is blocked or cut off, such as occurs when a person experiences a stroke or a heart attack, the brain cells likewise become damaged or die. Damage resulting from a brain that is bleeding is referred to as a “hemorrhagic” brain injury, commonly referred to as a “brain hemorrhage.” Damage resulting from blood flow being blocked or cut off from the brain is called an “ischemic” brain injury.
Symptoms resulting from blood or oxygen deficiency in the brain can include:
- Loss of consciousness
- Impaired vision
- Slurred speech
- Loss or reduction of motor skills
- Weakness in the limbs
Which Traumatic Brain Injuries Have the Best Recovery Rates?
The ability to recover from any type of brain injury depends on the nature and severity of the damage caused to the brain. The brain injuries that present the possibility for the quickest and fullest recovery are those that result in the mildest damage to the brain, which are the mTBIs (mild concussions). These are the most common types of TBI.
Most mTBIs are not caused by a serious impact to the brain and usually present only mild and temporary symptoms, which usually pass within a few days or a week. Rarely are there long-term or permanent disabilities that result from an mTBI.
Although a contusion and hematoma are more serious because they can cause more damage to the brain and can result in more long-term symptoms, if the impact and injury to the brain are moderate, moderate TBIs also may present a very high likelihood of full recovery.
Contact our Kansas city personal injury lawyers now.
Which Traumatic Brain Injuries Have the Worst Recovery Rates?
Brain injuries resulting from heavy impact to the body, sharp and sudden jolts of the head (DAIs), or structural damage to the skull by a foreign object (penetrating TBIs) tend to have less favorable recovery rates. When the impact to the head or body is significant, the physical effect on the brain is often more intense and can cause greater damage. The greater the damage to the brain, the less likely the victim is to experience a quick or full recovery.
Even recovery from the types of TBIs that result from oxygen or blood deprivation depends on the nature and extent of the deficiency and the resulting damage to the brain. Where the deficiency is temporary or short in duration, and the deprivation is not significant, a full recovery is very possible. But if the deprivation is extended and the resulting damage to the brain is severe, the physical disabilities resulting from more extensive damage to the brain are likely to be long-term or permanent.
What Are the Long-Term Effects of a Traumatic Brain Injury?
The long-term impact of any type of TBI depends largely on the extent of the damage to the brain that results from the injury. When the impact and damage to the brain are minor, the victim’s functionality usually remains intact (or at least it is only temporarily impaired), and the effects of the injury usually dissipate quickly. As brain cells are restored, so is the victim’s ability to function normally.
However, where the brain and skull are physically and structurally affected or permanently damaged by impact, the functions of the body associated with the damaged parts of the brain are also significantly affected. When the damage to the brain is irreparable and permanent, the physical, emotional, and financial effects on the victim are also likely to be long-term or permanent.
The long-term or permanent effects of a serious brain injury may include:
- Physical impairment: Damage to the brain can have a direct impact on the victim’s physical functioning and motor skills, many of which have been discussed in this article as common symptoms of a TBI. However, when symptoms persist, the long-term effects on the victim often can include:
- Chronic pain, especially headaches and neck pain
- Dizziness, instability, loss of balance, or lack of coordination
- Exhaustion and fatigue
- Insomnia or excessive sleepiness
- Epileptic seizures
- Cognition deficits (the ability to think): When the part of the brain that controls the ability to think is hindered by torn axons or damaged nerve cells, for example, the signals from the brain may not flow properly to other parts of the body. As a result, the injury to the brain may have a long-term effect on cognitive functioning, including:
- Memory
- The ability to focus
- The ability to process thoughts
- The ability to reason
- The ability to employ linear thinking
- The ability to form words or to speak
- Diminished sensory perception: The brain has a direct pathway to motor and sensory controls in the body. If the brain is damaged in the area that controls the senses, a TBI victim may experience:
- Blurred vision
- Light sensitivity
- Loss of hearing
- Change in ability to taste and smell
- Tactile deficiency (decreased sense of touch)
- Emotional issues: Many of the types of brain injury discussed in this article can have a significant impact on the victim’s emotional stability. Facing long-term disabilities with damaged or disconnected pathways for emotional signals in the brain can be unbearable. Many TBI victims experience long-term:
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Frustration
- Irritability
- Impulse control
- Emotional regulation
The emotional imbalance results not only from the damage to specific brain cells, but also from the impact of dealing with a lifetime of physical disability or impairment.
What Factors Influence Recovery from a Traumatic Brain Injury?
Depending on the nature and extent of the brain injury, full recovery is not always possible. Sometimes, even partial recovery can take months or even years. However, many types of TBIs present very good opportunities for a quick and full recovery. There are many factors that influence how quickly and how permanently someone can recover from a TBI.
Some of the factors that can assist in a speedy and full recovery from a TBI include:
- The severity of the injury
- The area of the brain that is damaged
- The age of the victim
- How quickly the injury is treated
- Whether there are any previous brain injuries
- Pre-existing health conditions
- Physical and emotional rehabilitation
How Does My Physical Recovery from a Traumatic Brain Injury Affect My Financial Recovery in a Personal Injury Lawsuit for Damages?
As discussed throughout this article, any type of TBI can have devastating physical consequences on the victim. Fortunately, if you have suffered a TBI, physical recovery is likely possible, and there are many things you can do to assist in your own physical recovery.
Likewise, you probably already realize that your TBI is going to have significant financial consequences. And if your physical injuries are long-term, your financial recovery also may be long-term. But your financial recovery is also possible, and there are things you can do right now to assist in your financial recovery from your TBI.
Just as the most important thing in your physical recovery is obtaining professional medical treatment as soon as possible, the most important thing you can do to secure your financial recovery is to obtain an experienced brain injury lawyer as soon as possible. You know the old saying, “It’s not brain surgery.” Well, in this case, it very well could be brain surgery if you are not properly evaluated and diagnosed, promptly and effectively treated, and protected from professional insurance adjusters who do not have your best interests in mind. A reliable brain injury lawyer understands how complicated brain injuries can be and knows how to protect your interests and how to hold negligent parties accountable for your financial recovery.
The longer your physical recovery takes, the more important a full financial recovery becomes. To protect your financial recovery, you need a personal injury attorney who understands the medical complexities of brain injuries and the impact your injury is having on your life. You need a brain injury lawyer with expertise in proving fault and appropriately valuing your damages for the type of brain injury you suffered. The brain injury lawyers at Foster Wallace, LLC, have the knowledge and experience you need for a full financial recovery.
Recovery from a Traumatic Brain Injury Is Possible—Both Physically and Financially. Make Your Recovery Easier by Calling the Experienced Brain Injury Attorneys at Foster Wallace, LLC
At Foster Wallace, LLC, we know that even a minor traumatic brain injury can have enormous financial consequences for you and your family. The financial stress of dealing with a TBI can drain you emotionally, diminish your motivation, and have a negative impact on your overall physical recovery. And that is something we don’t tolerate at Foster Wallace.
We believe that every TBI victim deserves the best opportunity for full recovery, physically and financially. We make it our goal to handle all the legal complications associated with your injury so that you can focus on your physical recovery.
Our legal team has more than 50 years of experience handling brain injury cases in Missouri and Kansas. We will assist you from start to finish and make every aspect of your recovery a positive one. Call us today at 816-439-8665 for a free initial consultation.
