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http://www.MattLaw.com Tampa Brain Injury Lawyer Matt Powell explains the Physics of how a brain injury and whiplash happens. A traumatic brain injury is caused by a bump, blow or jolt to the head. This trauma or head injury disrupts the brain’s normal ability to function. Not all blows or jolts to the head result in a traumatic brain injury. The severity of a brain injury can range from “mild,” like, a brief change in mental status to “severe,” an extended period of unconsciousness or amnesia after the injury. Most traumatic brain injuries are concussions. What is a Concussion? A concussion is a type of traumatic brain injury, caused by a bump, blow, or jolt to the head that can change the way your brain normally works. Concussions can occur from a motor vehicle accident, a fall or a blow to the body that causes the head and brain to move quickly back and forth, even though the head itself has no trauma. A brain injury can affect Thinking, memory and reasoning. Sometimes it can be short term memory or long term memory. Reasoning can be a lack of judgment. A brain injury can affect Language which is a change in the ability for the injured person to understand language, or a loss of expression, or a difficult time in communicating. A brain injury can affect Emotional Changes which can be seen as newly acquired depression, anxiety, aggression, acting out, social inappropriateness and personality changes. Brain injuries can cause epilepsy and increase the risk for Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and other brain disorders that show up years later. Mild traumatic brain injuries are a result of microscopic damage throughout the brain that in turn initiates a cascade of biochemical events that leads to the subsequent formation of Alzheimer’s disease. Any concussion is an injury to the brain. Some brain injuries are very minor, and others are quite severe. We also know that repetitive concussions lead to severe loss of brain function over time. Motor Vehicle-Traffic Crashes are the second leading cause of brain injuries 17.3 percent and resulted in the largest percentage of brain injury related deaths 31.8 percent. Closed Head Mild Traumatic Brain Injuries: A closed head injury is when the trauma does not fracture the skull, but the brain is damaged by a sudden shaking or movement of the brain inside. If a person’s head and brain has a sudden shake, they will have what is commonly called an “Axonal Sheering Injury.” This injury happens when the axons connecting the white and grey brain matter are stretched and damaged. Your brain is made up of two types of brain cells, grey and white matter. The center of your brain is “white brain matter”, which is dense and heavy compared to the surrounding grey matter. The grey brain matter is much softer and lighter that the heavy white matter. The white and grey matter are connected by axons, which are billions of microscopic nerve fibers that transfer information from the grey brain matter to the white brain matter, and vice versa. 75% of brain injuries are classified as mild brain injuries. However, the definition is not very comforting if you are the one with the “mild brain injury.” Many emergency department doctors call a concussion a “mild” brain injury because concussions are usually not life-threatening. Even though a concussion is not usually a life ending injury, it can have a life altering effect. A brain injury can and does occur without a person being knocked unconscious. There is the famous case of Phineous Gage’s brain injury. In 1848, Pineas was working on a railroad when an explosion occurred and sent a three foot long iron rod through his head. He was rushed to a doctor who found Phineous to be “in full possession of his reason and free from pain.” He was eventually able to return to work, however, he underwent a total transformation of his personality. Today, most doctors will agree that a brain injury does not require a loss of consciousness, however, in the courtroom, most defense experts will say that without a loss of consciousness there can be no brain injury. The good news is that medical literature continues to expand and clarify that brain injury does happen without a loss of consciousness. http://www.MattLaw.com