Head & Brain Injuries

Most Common Causes of Brain Damage

Vehicular accidents involving passenger automobiles are by far the major cause of skull, head and brain injury in California. Most people realize that a brain injury can happen due to a blow or strike to the head. This could be an impact from falling off a bicycle and hitting the asphalt with force, or from a spill on a motorcycle in a two wheeled single vehicle collision. Often it results from crashing into a windshield during a car accident. Even without an impact, the g-forces of a car crash cause the your brain to go from sudden acceleration to sudden deceleration, just like in a whiplash event. So even without blunt trauma to you head, you can still suffer a head injury.

In fact, a lot of brain injuries are directly related to tearing of the brain unrelated to a hit on the head. The whiplash event can cause the rain to bleed, can create bruising and twisting of brain matter. Damage to your brain could happen during the, or as brain matter and tissue swells up, it could happen later when you think your fine.

Types of Head Injuries

• Skull Fractures
• Diffuse Axonal Injuries (DAI)
• Concussions and Contusions
• Anoxic Brain Injuries
• Contrecoup
• Subdural Hematoma
• Epidural Hematoma

Human Brain Injury Anatomy

The brain weighs a lot, at least two to five pounds in some cases. It consists of a gray, jelly-like substance, called cerebrospinal fluid. The cerebrospinal fluid consists of millions of microscopic fibers. Your brain operates by sending electrically charged neuro-chemical signals through the axonal-dendric connections commonly referred to a synapses. If human brain tissue is impacted by a jolt or strike, your axonal-dendric connections could break apart, or become severely damaged.

Cerebellum, Cortex and Brain Stem

Science has discovered that you brain consists of three major organs called the: cerebellum, cortex, and brain stem, or diencephalon.

Your cerebellum is responsible for balance and coordination

Your brain stem is what connects your spinal cord to your brain, which in turn sends signals to your vital organs like your heart, and lungs and controls natural survival functions, from adrenaline, heart beat, urination, breathing, consciousness, fear and hunger.

Although your skull helps protect your brain, the cranium is not that thick and not padded on the inside. In fact, just the opposite is true. The inside of your cranium is ribbed with bony structures. So if there is a sudden back and forth or side to side movement of your head, the brain can bang into the ribbing and mess you up for life due to the bruise injury.

The cortex is in the middle of your brain and is responsible for the majority of thoughts and analysis. There are 4 lobes to your cortex, along with 2 hemispheres: the right and the left.

Your left hemisphere is typically the most dominant portion of your brain and responsible for controlling your ability to talk, read, write, or do mathematical calculations for that matter. The right side of your brain is responsible for visual-spatial functions like musical rhythm, the ability to draw and other visual memories associated with computing, programming and drawing things.

Your frontal lobe is often injured from motor vehicle accidents as a result of it being located at the front of your skull. The frontal lobe is known for controlling emotions and characteristics such as your very personality.

When you receive a Cerebellum, Cortex and Brain Stem injury in a car or truck accident, telephone California personal injury attorneys located in Orange County and Los Angeles, right after visiting the ER, at 888-400-9721.