Closed Head Injury In A Car Accident
A closed head injury means you received a hard blow to the head from striking an object, but the object did not break the skull. Car accidents often cause these type of injuries.

October 06, 2011 /24-7PressRelease/ -- A closed head injury means you received a hard blow to the head from striking an object, but the object did not break the skull. Every time you have a hard blow to the head, you suffer a head injury.

Most of the time, these injuries are minor and result in no long-term damage.

However, if you have been involved with a car accident, the injury may not be so minor. If you are driving at highway speeds and have to stop suddenly or are struck by another vehicle, your head experiences severe deceleration forces.

When you decelerate from 55 mph to zero in a very short distance, your brain is thrown against your skull at 55 mph. Even if an airbag isolates your head from snapping violently forward, there is no airbag in your skull to stop your brain.

These blows to the head often cause a concussion, the most common type of traumatic brain injury. A concussion is simply where the brain is shaken. A contusion is a bruise on the brain. A contusion on the brain can also result in bleeding, swelling and tearing to the tissue of the brain, all of which can have severe consequences.

Symptoms

The symptoms of a head injury can occur immediately after the accident or develop slowly over several hours or days.

If you have been involved in a car accident, even at lower speeds, you should have a thorough medical exam as soon as possible, to detect any injures to the brain.

The National Institutes for Health (NIH) website lists some of the possible symptoms of a serious head injury:
- Changes in, or unequal size of pupils
- Chronic or severe headaches
- Coma
- Fluid draining from nose, mouth, or ears (may be clear or bloody)
- Fracture in the skull or face, bruising of the face, swelling at the site of the injury, or scalp wound
- Irritability (especially in children)
- Loss of consciousness, confusion, or drowsiness
- Loss of or change in sensation, hearing, vision, taste, or smell
- Low breathing rate or drop in blood pressure
- Memory loss
- Mood, personality, or behavioral changes
- Paralysis
- Restlessness, clumsiness, or lack of coordination
- Seizures
- Speech and language problems
- Slurred speech or blurred vision
- Stiff neck or vomiting

The behavioral changes may be hard to detect at first, and may first manifest in seemingly minor ways, but will often develop into increased irritability, anxiety and other more pronounced changes in personality or behavior.

If you have been injured in a car accident and have suffered some form of closed head injury, you should consult an attorney about the accident.

Closed head trauma can result in severe complications, and in addition to the immediate medical care, can result in the need for long-term medical care.

An attorney can help determine possible sources of compensation and assist with developing a settlement and care plan to provide for the future.

Press Release Contact Information:

Findlaw PR