Can You Get a Concussion from Whiplash? Exploring Car Accident Injuries

Car accidents cause a wide variety of injuries that vary in level of severity from mild cuts and abrasions to significant head trauma. Whiplash and concussions represent two of the most serious types of auto collision injuries that often require immediate medical care, as well as a prolonged period of treatments and physical therapy sessions. Both types of serious car accident injuries can develop during the same incident, but one question remains for you to answer.

Can I get a concussion from whiplash?

Whiplash develops when the head and neck snap back and forth at a high velocity because of an incredibly strong impact produced by a vehicle collision. Although whiplash can develop as a result of other types of personal injury incidents, the sudden, strong snapping back and forth of the head and neck is mostly associated with car accidents. You can sustain a whiplash injury caused by a rear-end, side-impact, or head-on collision. The common factor for each of the three types of collisions is the speed of the vehicles at the time of impact.

As a mild traumatic brain injury, a concussion develops because of the impact the head makes on another object. For example, at the time of vehicle impact, the head slams into the front side driver’s door and the result is the development of a concussion. The answer to the question, “Can I get a concussion from whiplash,” is yes due to the violent movement of the head and neck at the time of a strong vehicle impact. Both whiplash and a concussion sometimes do not develop symptoms until a few hours or even a couple of days after a personal injury incident.

Since 1988, the team of personal injury attorneys at Morgan and Morgan has handled hundreds of car accident cases that involved the development of whiplash and/or a concussion. As the leading personal injury law firm in the United States, Morgan and Morgan has helped clients recover more than $14 billion in monetary damages, with a substantial amount of the financial awards coming from favorable car accident lawsuit rulings. 

If you sustained whiplash and/or a concussion as the result of a motor vehicle collision, be proactive and schedule a free case evaluation with one of the experienced personal injury lawyers at Morgan and Morgan.

What Factors Cause a Concussion?

The brain floats on a substance similar to jelly called cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). When the head receives a strong impact, the brain has nothing to secure it in place, which causes it to hit the side of the skull. The strong impact made by the brain on the side of a skull damages tissue and can cause the CSF to leak.

Strong impacts that jostle the brain can occur because of a slip and fall, riding an amusement park ride, and losing control of a golf cart. However, the most common cause of a concussion outside of playing a contact sport is a car accident. Despite advanced technology used to install airbags, a strong car collision can force the head to move from side to side or miss the airbag and hit the dashboard instead. Most concussions are considered mild, with the passing of time the only way to heal the injury. Nonetheless, a series of concussions that develop over several years can compromise the brain’s cognitive performance.

What Are the Symptoms of a Concussion?

Some concussion symptoms are easy to detect, especially if a concussion results from a significantly strong impact on the head. You might feel chronic fatigue and constant severe headaches, as well as have trouble with vision and develop a sensitivity to light. Although concussions can be painful because of the trauma delivered to the head, pain is often a secondary concern to the loss of motor skills and a diminishment of cognitive ability.

A concussion also can develop invisible symptoms that influence emotions. You might feel highly anxious and/or irritable, as well as become moody, which includes an extended period of depression. A concussion can make it difficult to concentrate and solve relatively simple problems. Irregular sleep habits that include having difficulty falling to sleep is a signature symptom of the development of a concussion.

What Are the Symptoms of Whiplash?

One of the keys to answering the question, “Can I get a concussion from whiplash” is to understand the signs that you sustained a whiplash injury. Whiplash injuries typically develop before the signs of a concussion, although like a concussion, a whiplash injury can take a few hours to produce symptoms.

The most pronounced and difficult symptom to manage concerns the incredible pain you feel in the neck and upper shoulders after a car accident. Damaged nerves, which are highly sensitive to strong impacts, cause excruciating pain that requires a victim to seek immediate emergency medical care. The excruciating pain can lead to the triggering of migraine headaches, which also are a sign of a concussion. You might experience extreme tightness in the lower neck and upper shoulders before the onset of excruciating pain. For the most serious cases of whiplash, victims cannot move their heads to either side.

The worst types of whiplash cases send incredibly intense pain through both arms and the upper back. This type of widespread pain might require an invasive type of surgery to calm the swelling nerves.

How Do Healthcare Providers Diagnose Whiplash?

As opposed to most other types of car accident injuries such as cuts, bruises, and fractures, whiplash does not demonstrate any obvious signs of physical duress. To issue a proper diagnosis, a healthcare provider starts the process by asking a few questions. The physician conducting the diagnosis wants to know when the car accident occurred, as well as what was the cause of your injury. You can expect to explain the severity of the pain that you experience before the physician gently moves the neck to determine the source of the worst trauma.

When finished with the preliminary examination, the healthcare provider then runs several imaging tests like x-rays, CT scans, and MRI scans to determine the extent of your whiplash injury. Running imaging tests is an important element for you to prove a car accident resulted in damages that generated financial losses.

After completing the comprehensive physical examination to detect whiplash, the physician conducts an assessment that determines whether you sustained a concussion.

How Should I Handle the Aftermath of a Car Accident?

The key to receiving monetary damages to cover the financial losses produced by a car accident involves proving another party committed one or more acts of negligence that caused the motor vehicle collision. Proving negligence requires the personal injury attorney from Morgan and Morgan to show the presence of the four elements of negligence. The four elements of negligence, which your lawyer describes in more detail during a free case evaluation, consist of duty of care, breaching the duty of care, causation, and financial losses.

Most car accident cases should unfold in the following manner.

• Contact the Appropriate Law Enforcement Agency

Getting law enforcement involved in a car accident case is important for two reasons. First, a team of police officers establishes a perimeter to create a safe scene for investigating the collision. Second, the formal police report represents the most important document reviewed by insurance companies, as well as judges who preside over civil lawsuits. The formal police report includes evidence such as photographs, as well as a conclusion as to whether either party involved in the car accident should assume legal liability for causing the crash.

• Receive Medical Care

For serious injuries like whiplash and/or a concussion, you should receive immediate medical care to treat the symptoms. If you feel healthy enough to remain at the scene of the accident, you should still get medical attention since both whiplash and a concussion can trigger delayed symptoms that can develop into serious healthcare issues. Your insurance company will not approve a claim unless you present evidence that you received treatment by a properly credentialed physician.

• Gather Evidence

Although a law enforcement agency conducts an investigation to determine the cause of the vehicle collision, you should gather evidence in the form of photographs captured by your Smartphone or a digital camera. Take photos of the accident scene, with an emphasis placed on capturing tire tracks. The length and direction of tire tracks can indicate an estimate of the speed both cars traveled at the time of impact. You also want to capture images of the damage done to your car to recover financial losses.

Your personal injury lawyer from Morgan and Morgan will request the footage acquired by any traffic cameras.

• Witness Contact Information

You should not interview witnesses at the accident scene. Instead, collect the names and contact information of every witness. Your personal injury lawyer will interview each witness to build legal support for your version of events. You want to get the accounts of every witness as soon as possible after the collision to ensure the most accurate retelling of events. Not every witness will provide supportive testimony during a civil trial, which is why your attorney needs to interview each witness before deciding whether to file a civil lawsuit that seeks monetary damages.

• Meet With a Personal Injury Lawyer

Before you file an insurance claim and/or a civil lawsuit, you should schedule a free case evaluation with one of the highly-rated litigators at Morgan and Morgan. The attorney you meet with reviews the formal police report, as well as any physical evidence that you gathered. Hiring a personal injury attorney ensures the filing of a civil lawsuit before the expiration of the statute of limitations. Getting the legal support of an experienced personal injury lawyer is especially helpful for car accident cases that involve whiplash and/or concussion symptoms

Meet With a Personal Injury Attorney From Morgan and Morgan

Now that you know the answer to the question, “Can I get a concussion from whiplash,” the next step is to meet with one of the car personal injury lawyers from Morgan and Morgan to determine how to proceed with your case. You might have enough persuasive evidence to file a civil lawsuit that seeks monetary damages.

Schedule a free case evaluation today to recover the financial losses caused by a car accident or another type of personal injury incident.