A Concussion WITHOUT Hitting Your Head?
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The topic of today’s post is, “Can you still sustain a concussion if you do not strike your head on something?”
Too many people who are in car crashes will suffer from concussion symptoms like headaches and dizziness because they have not seen a doctor. And they don’t see a doctor because they think that it’s not possible for them to have a concussion if they did not strike their head on something.
How concussions can happen
Yes, it is very possible for you to sustain a concussion even if you do not hit your head on the steering wheel or the window or the dashboard or anything else. It is a myth that you have to have a direct blow to the head in order to sustain a concussion.
Let’s think about it this way. Your brain is soft, and when your head moves violently as it does in a car crash, your soft brain smashes up against the hard skull. A couple of different things are going on here.
What we’ve learned from soldiers with traumatic brain injuries
In the last decade, we’ve heard a lot about soldiers who have incurred traumatic brain injuries or concussions not from direct blows but just from being in the blast zone of an explosion. It’s similar to what happens when a car rams into you at a stoplight. Your head whips forward and then whips backward. That’s whiplash.
But your brain is doing the same thing. Your brain is slapping the front of the skull and then slapping the back of the skull. That is what causes a brain injury.
Concussion symptoms
Common concussion symptoms include headache, sleep issues (either too much or too little), mood changes like irritability, anxiety, feeling like you just can’t control your anger, memory problems, trouble focusing, concentrating, feeling confused, vision changes, ringing in your ears, dizziness, nausea.
What you should do
That list is not exhaustive by any means, but if you’re having those symptoms, you do need to go to a doctor and talk about this. The sooner you seek a diagnosis, the sooner you can get the proper treatment for your symptoms, and the better the chance you’re giving yourself of a full recovery.
Connect With Us
Untreated concussions can disrupt your personal life, your family, your friendships, and your work. if you have any questions about concussions or their symptoms or treatment, please call us at 303-688-0944 to schedule a 30-minute consultation with a member of our Personal Injury Team.