How Long Does It Take The Brain to Heal After a Brain Injury?

Brain injuries are some of the most dangerous types of injuries out there. Sometimes, these injuries get worse over time or present several other complications. According to Orange County law firm – Roberts | Jeandron Law, car accidents are a leading cause of traumatic brain injuries (TBI).

About 176 American citizens die due to TBI complications ¹each day. Because of these injuries’ severe implications, many personal injury victims are awarded millions in compensation. However, what exactly is a traumatic brain injury², and how long does it take to recover after a brain injury?

What Is a Traumatic Brain Injury?

A traumatic brain injury occurs when a person suffers a blow to the head ³or body, resulting in a rattling of the brain inside the skull. Symptoms of a TBI ⁴differ based on the blow’s severity, force, and direction of the brain. 

Various complications can result from traumatic brain injuries that range from minor cognitive delays to debilitating and life-threatening symptoms such as seizures or coma. These complications can follow the victim for many years after the injury.

Since everyone is different, and the circumstances of their accidents vary, the recovery time for a traumatic brain injury differs from patient to patient. Some may recover in a few weeks, usually three, while others can reach even the 10-year mark in their recovery.

The vast majority of accident victims that suffer traumatic brain injuries experience recovery two years after the incident. In other patients, some improvements take as long as five to 10 years after the injury.

Traumatic Brain Injury Complications

Brain damage isn’t something as easy to treat as a broken bone. Brain injury victims may have to face various complications due to the damage. Brain damage can temporarily or permanently impair someone and prevent them from living a normal life⁵. Some traumatic brain injury complications ⁶include:

Altered Behavior

Any accident may change us for a little while. However, an altered behavior is sometimes a tell-tale sign of brain injury. It is a non-economic damage that the victim can be compensated for.

For example, you can receive money for counseling. Altered behavior includes irrational anger, irritability, isolation, or general disassociation with friends and family.

Diminished Mental Processing

A challenging complication to diagnose is diminished mental processing. Impaired decision-making and issues with memory recall are often associated with this. Inability to reason, decreased memory, lack of concentration, or poor judgment are all signs of diminished mental processing. ⁷

Since problem-solving, multi-tasking, planning, organizing, decision-making, and other issues are present, the victims should seek compensation for psychological and cognitive treatments, lost income, and money for suffering from mental sharpness decrease due to the traumatic brain injury.

Physical Symptoms

TBIs can come with various physical symptoms, such as seizures, infections, blood vessel damage, fluid buildup in the brain (hydrocephalus), vertigo, or tinnitus. Medics refer to these as post-concussive symptoms. ⁸

Traumatic brain injury victims can seek compensation for medical care and treatments and the suffering that comes from these physical injuries and side effects.

Severe Brain Injuries

The riskiest brain damage injuries may cause altered consciousness, including comas, leaving the victim in a vegetative state or minimally conscious. In extreme case, they may result in brain death. The family of such victims should be aware be compensated since such injuries require life-long care or result in the victim’s wrongful death.

How a Personal Injury Lawyer Can Help

Traumatic brain injuries may take a couple of weeks or years to heal. However, nothing is certain when it comes to brain injuries and the complications they come with. Because of this, traumatic brain injury accident victims and their families should seek help from a skilled personal injury lawyer.

A personal injury lawyer can help you out in the long run in receiving the proper compensation for your injuries. Other parties might try to offer you an unfair settlement to get rid of the responsibility.

However, brain injuries aren’t so easy to dismiss, and their severity is also hard to determined. Contact a personal injury lawyer to learn more and fight for the compensation you truly deserve.

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4. Dikmen, Sureyya, et al. “Rates of symptom reporting following traumatic brain injury.” Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society 16.3 (2010): 401-411. ↩︎
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Last Updated on February 7, 2024 by ayeshayusuf