The "one-two punch" to the head from a car crash - what every family should know.

Posted by Doug LandauOctober 07, 2008 11:15 AM

Having just returned from the Virginia Trial Lawyers Brain Injury Retreat, I brought materials from the latest advances in medical science and legal advocacy back to share with the Abrams Landau team. While we knew about acceleration and deceleration injuries to the brain, which result in diffuse axonal injury, and we also have helped people who sustained head injuries from air bag explosions, I had not realized that there could be a rapid acceleration/deceleration injury, causing shearing or tearing of the brain's nerve cells, compounded by a blow to the head by the airbag deploying at high speed. It is well known that the former type of closed head injury can cause a number of neurological symptoms but, when the first injury is combined with the second insult, the ramifications can be quite significant.

A second "impact" of the brain with the inside of the skull can multiply Traumatic Brain Injury EIGHT TIMES, such as when there is a crash followed by the sudden deployment of the airbags into the occupant's face. The injury and symptoms may manifest slowly, as the swelling inside the skull and scarring of the torn nerves may result in cognitive impairment, headaches and other problems long after the crash.