Traumatic brain injury sustained from a motorcycle accident tends to be more severe than when sustained from a car accident. If you were involved in a motorcycle accident caused by another driver, please get in touch with one of our Eason & Tambornini brain injury attorneys to discuss your legal options. Our brain injury attorneys will explain why traumatic brain injury following a motorcycle accident is common, why hitting your head can cause a blood clot, if you can heal from brain damage, and what other types of head injuries are common from motorcycle accidents. Call our office now if you were in a motorcycle accident, and one of our Eason & Tambornini brain injury lawyers can assist you right away.
Traumatic brain injury is very common after a motorcycle accident and makes up for about one-third of all deaths related to trauma and accidents. In fact, it is one of the causative factors of death in motorcycle riders under the age of 25.
There are many factors for why motorcycle accidents are more common, and their injuries are more severe. The main reason is that there is no car body to protect the motorcycle rider from the impact. Even worse, the impact can throw the rider off his or her bike and directly into oncoming traffic.
When your head hits the pavement after being thrown off a motorcycle, a series of pathological processes take effect. The rapid acceleration and deceleration of the brain inside the skull often result in soft tissue trauma. It also causes neuronal damage as the shearing force of the brain moving forcefully and abruptly stretches the axons of the neurons. This could cause tearing and disruption of the axons, which will trigger the inflammatory process and cause swelling in the brain.
The trauma could also damage the blood vessels in the brain and cause bleeding. Blood will leak into the spaces in and around the brain and increase the intracranial pressure.
There is also the risk of a blood clot or hematoma forming outside the vessels. This is very dangerous since hematomas in the brain increase intracranial pressure and impede cerebral blood flow and compress the soft brain tissues.
Recovery from a traumatic brain injury after a motorcycle accident depends on so many factors. Also, healing is slow and will take years of intensive therapy. Unfortunately, even if you recover, there is a risk of developing lifelong disabilities, especially if the injuries are diffuse and extensive.
Some of the factors that affect healing from brain damage include age, pre-existing medical conditions, severity and locations of the brain injuries, disabilities, complications, as well as the patient’s physical, mental, and psychological state. The quality of medical care and home care also plays a role in the healing process after brain damage.
About 50% of the vegetative patients regain consciousness after about a month, but there is a risk for permanent physical, social, mental, and cognitive disabilities and impairments.
In addition to traumatic brain injury, there are other types of head injuries associated with motorcycle accidents, such as craniofacial injuries or injuries to the face and cranium. These include multiple lacerations to the face, nasal bone fracture, orbicular bone fracture, jaw fracture, temporal bone fracture, broken teeth, skull fracture, orbital fracture, optic nerve damage, facial nerve damage, cornea laceration, among others.
Wearing protective helmets, especially full-face helmets, can significantly reduce the risk for head injuries. It can help decrease the risk of traumatic brain injury and craniofacial injuries, and it can also protect your head and face from road debris.
It should be noted that wearing a protective helmet affects your legal claim. Even if the accident wasn’t your fault, whether or not you were wearing a helmet could significantly affect your personal injury claim.
What can you do?
Medical care and additional therapies for head injuries can become expensive, with a prolonged hospital stay and an even longer recovery process. If another driver’s negligence caused the accident, you should know that you can recover damages and use the monetary compensation to help cover your costs.
If you or your loved one was involved in a motorcycle accident, give us a call immediately to set up a free consultation with one of our Eason & Tambornini motorcycle accident attorneys in Sacramento. We’ll help you understand why it’s common to sustain a traumatic brain injury from a motorcycle accident, how blood clots can form after hitting your head, the factors that affect healing, and other types of head injuries associated with motorcycle accidents. For any questions regarding traumatic brain injury from a motorcycle accident, give us a call, and one of our Eason & Tambornini personal injury lawyers will assist you
