What changes the effects of a brain injury?

Getting into a car crash often results in damage to the head, neck and back. Head injuries and brain trauma make up some of the most devastating car crash injuries that a person can experience, too.

These injuries are often hard to understand and predict. However, certain factors can help a victim anticipate what damages they may go through and what their recovery might look like.

Factors influencing injury effects

Mayo Clinic looks at traumatic brain injuries. These injuries can manifest differently depending on a number of factors, including:

• The age and health of the victim
• The speed at which both cars were traveling
• The force behind the impact and its location
• Whether or not the victim wore a seatbelt at the time of the crash

Other factors also have a hand in determining what effects a person may have to experience. One particularly overlooked one is the fact that the location of the injury on the brain can drastically change how someone may manifest symptoms.

For example, the frontal lobe controls memory codification and impulse control. Many people suffering from damage to this area grow more irritable and even lash out at others despite this seeming extremely out of character for them.

An unpredictable process

However, while it is possible to predict some of the potential effects with these factors, the healing process is not always so easy to guess. Even experts find themselves baffled by the trajectory some healing paths may take.

Early access to good medical care is one of the best ways to ensure that a victim has the greatest chance at a smooth recovery as possible.