What Does Trauma Do to the Brain?

Trauma can mean physical trauma, such as a blow to the head, or emotional/mental trauma. As it turns out, both kinds of trauma can severely affect your health and life. For example, research shows that PTSD can lead to structural changes in the brain, causing some key areas to become smaller and less active. It’s also possible to suffer physical and emotional trauma that affects the brain in the same incident, such as a car accident where you sustain a head injury.

Regardless of the trauma you’ve experienced, you may feel the effects weeks, months, or even years later. Some people become permanently disabled due to a traumatic brain injury, which most often occurs due to a hard impact on the head. It can also be caused by a penetrating brain injury or concussive force, although these causes are less common.

How Can a Traumatic Brain Injury Lawyer Help?

Because the brain is connected to nerves all over your body, a brain injury can cause various symptoms, from pain to paralysis. In many cases, these symptoms prevent a person from working, doing regular household chores, socializing, or maintaining friendships. At the same time, many people struggle with medical bills yet are unable to work.

If you’ve developed chronic pain or other symptoms from a head injury, we recommend speaking to a Georgia personal injury lawyer to learn your options for getting your medical bills and other expenses paid. You have enough to deal with as you work on your recovery. Trying to get the insurance company to pay for your treatment shouldn’t be an additional burden.

Types of Brain Injuries

There are several different categories of brain injury effects or deficits that may be permanent. Brain surgery may prevent other problems or reduce the risk of further damage, but it can’t replace damaged neurons with healthy ones. Depending on the area of the brain affected, sometimes medication may help reduce your symptoms, but medication is not adequate for every patient. A physical or occupational therapist may be able to help you cope with some of the challenges presented by a brain injury.

Here are some of the most common types of brain injuries we see in these cases:

Motor Deficits

Motor deficits typically affect your ability to move. As noted above, the brain controls movement throughout the body, so the location of the damage determines where you might have difficulty moving predictably. Some people might have difficulty moving their right arm, for example, or their left leg.

Motor deficits can include:

• Paralysis
• Stiff or poorly controlled muscles (spasticity)
• Trouble picking up, carrying, or moving objects
• Reduction in fine motor skills, which can result in difficulties with tasks like buttoning a shirt or writing
• Problems with balance or coordination
• Difficulty speaking or swallowing
• Eyesight issues

Sensory and Perceptual Deficits

These deficits affect the senses – sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell – and how your brain interprets information from these senses. Usually, they’re caused by damage to the parietal or occipital lobes in the brain, and they can lead to several challenges, including:

• Issues with visual perception and processing (such as a new difficulty with reading and absorbing information from what you read)
• Agnosia, or a problem recognizing something based on stimuli, such as being unable to identify a sound as a barking dog
• Visual field impairments, including losing half or a quarter of the visual field or suffering a scotoma (a dark or blank spot in the visual field)
• Unilateral neglect/inattention is a symptom where the patient is unable to respond to stimuli on the side of the body opposite the brain injury – for example, being unable to feel when someone taps your right arm after a left-side brain injury
• Dyspraxia, or a reduction in coordination, such as difficulty standing on one foot or doing other activities that require balance

Communication and Language Deficits

Many people struggle with communication after a traumatic brain injury. Some have difficulty speaking clearly, or may know what they want to say but cannot find the right words (a condition called aphasia). Challenges with written language are also possible. Sometimes these issues can overlap with sensory difficulties, like having trouble understanding a question and then replying. Treatment usually involves working with a speech therapist to recover as much function as possible, but you may still have permanent difficulties. Some people find aids like picture boards or a computer program that speaks for them helpful.

Functional Deficits

Functional deficits affect your ability to do everyday tasks like walking, eating, showering, brushing your teeth, using the bathroom, and taking care of yourself. They may be caused by other overlapping issues, such as motor or perceptual deficits. When these deficits occur, you will probably need a full-time caregiver until you improve, or permanently if improvement isn’t possible. An occupational therapist will work with you to develop or recover skills so you can be more independent.

How to Get Help From a Traumatic Brain Injury Law Firm

With any of the above deficits, getting appropriate rehabilitation treatment is your best chance of regaining some or all of your previous abilities. In many cases, inpatient rehabilitation is recommended for the best results, but this can be very expensive, and often patients reach the limits of their health insurance quickly. At the same time, even minor deficits can be frustrating and leave you unable to work. Being unable to afford treatment only makes matters worse – especially since early intervention will give you the best chance of getting good results.

Many people don’t realize that there may be options beyond their health insurance. If your accident might have been caused by another party’s negligence, you might be able to seek compensation from their liability insurance. For example, in a car accident, the at-fault driver’s car insurance should cover your medical bills up to the policy limit. Do not assume that you were at fault – this is hard to determine without knowing all the facts and many people take responsibility for accidents they didn’t cause! Instead, talk with a lawyer about what happened.

Car accidents are one of the most common causes of traumatic brain injuries, but there are other situations where negligence can cause brain trauma. For example, if you slip and fall in a local store and hit your head, the store’s business liability insurance may cover your costs. If you were injured at a private residence, the homeowner’s insurance policy might provide coverage. Head injuries may also occur in boating accidents, incidents with golf carts or other low-speed vehicles, and other situations where there is an available insurance policy to pay for medical care and other expenses.

If you’re dealing with a serious brain injury, please contact the CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm today for a free consultation. There is no obligation; we will evaluate your case and explain your options free of charge. In many situations, we may be able to find liability insurance coverage for your needed medical care and other damages or file a lawsuit against the responsible party. If we do take your case, we never charge a fee until we win or negotiate a settlement in your favor.