Hidden Brain Bruise

The Hidden Brain Bruise

Motor vehicle accidents can injure more than your body. Mild traumatic brain injuries, or mTBIs, often go unnoticed after a crash. These concussions cause headaches, foggy thinking, or irritability that patients mistake for stress or lack of sleep. At Chambers Medical Group, one of the highest rated car accident medical care facilities in Kentucky, we often find people surprised by these symptoms and rarely do they connect them to head trauma. How do MVAs cause mTBIs, and why are they overlooked? Dr. Aaron Workman of Chambers Medical Group explains some of the things that happen to our brain following an MVA and how long these problems can last.

Brain in Motion
An MVA jolts your brain inside your skull, even without hitting your head. This is the first disconnect when it comes to a concussion. If a patient has no loss of consciousness, they assume the brain is fine. Unfortunately, sudden stops or whiplash can make the brain collide with the skull, bruising tissue or disrupting nervous system operations. These injuries are mild, no blood or visible trauma, but are very real when it comes to daily functioning. We recently had a teacher that presented with a persistent headache for over a month following a rear end collision. This patient naturally blamed long school days and kids, but when asked if there were headaches before the accident, they quickly understood these were new. There were always long school days and kids, but not headaches.

Delayed Symptoms
Symptoms such as dizziness, feeling like a scatter brain, and fatigue can take weeks to show up. mTBIs hide because symptoms can develop slowly. Mild headaches grow into migraines. Foggy thinking slows work or daily tasks. Irritability strains family interactions. Research confirms these symptoms can persist for many months, per Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation, “Mild Traumatic Brain Injury: Longitudinal Study of Cognition, Functional Status, and Post-Traumatic Symptoms,” March 2017. It is also important to understand the conclusion of this study, “even at 1-year post-injury, mild TBI is associated with three or more symptoms in about 25% of cases.”

Why It is Missed
mTBIs rarely appear on CT scans, so patients feel fine initially. Many skip checkups after minor crashes, thinking soreness is normal. Doctors without MVA experience may overlook subtle signs like poor balance or slow responses. Most patients will keep pushing to work and experience foggy days which are dismissed as exhaustion. Ignoring mTBI risks prolonged recovery or memory problems.

Your brain deserves as much care as your joints after a wreck. Early care prevents mTBIs from lingering. At Chambers Medical Group we use different tests, checking eye movements, attention, and language function to detect brain strain. Most patients suffering mTBI will also have accompanying muscle trauma and a myriad of other issues that will require some time spent in therapy. Rest is important for the brain but understanding the problem at the beginning is one of the most important steps. If you have found yourself suffering with head issues you do not understand, then the Doctors at Chambers Medical Group can help.

— This article is written by Aaron Workman, DC, one of the members of Chambers Medical Group’s team of car accident chiropractors who offer a variety of treatments and therapies ranging from diagnostic testing to various soft tissue therapies for car accidents and injuries in Kentucky.

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