With most injuries that you would suffer in a car accident, even serious ones, it’s fair to assume that they will get better over time. You could suffer a spinal cord injury that leaves you with a loss of mobility, but you may regain some of those skills through rehabilitation services in the months following the accident. You could suffer from a concussion that leaves you feeling dizzy and nauseated, but the symptoms will slowly dissipate over the coming weeks.
That said, there are some types of traumatic brain injuries that can actually get worse over time. It’s important to understand how these work, because ignoring the symptoms could be very dangerous.
A subdural hematoma
One example of this is a brain injury that leads to bleeding between the brain and the skull, known as a subdural hematoma.
The problem with this injury is that the bleeding puts increased pressure on the brain below the injury site. There’s no way to relieve this pressure, so the brain is slowly compressed within the skull.
What this means is that your initial symptoms may not feel that severe. Many people are tempted to believe they weren’t injured or just need to get some rest and they’ll feel better. But if there is slow bleeding happening in the tissue surrounding the brain the entire time, symptoms could become severe and lead to all manner of impairments. If you don’t seek medical attention for the subdural hematoma, unchecked bleeding in the brain could even be fatal.
This helps to demonstrate why it’s so important to talk to medical professionals after a car accident, especially if you have suffered a head injury. The treatment and care you receive can be expensive, so be sure you know how to seek financial compensation from the driver who caused the crash.