Injury Waiver Rights: The Leading Causes of Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBIs)
A traumatic brain injury (TBI) occurs when a sudden trauma damages the brain. TBIs disrupt the normal function of the brain and can have long-lasting physical, cognitive, and emotional effects. While some causes of TBIs are unavoidable accidents, many result from preventable situations. Understanding the common causes of TBIs can help people take appropriate precautions and avoid these devastating injuries. This article explores the primary causes of TBIs and how they occur.
Motor Vehicle Accidents and TBIs
Motor vehicle accidents are one of the leading causes of TBIs in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), motor vehicle crashes account for over 14% of all TBI-related emergency room visits and hospitalizations, and 19% of deaths in the country.
Car accidents frequently cause TBIs due to the high rates of speed vehicles travel and the sudden stop that occurs upon impact. When a moving car rapidly decelerates, the brain continues moving forward and crashes into the inside of the skull. This can bruise brain tissue, tear blood vessels, and damage neurons. People who do not wear seatbelts or have their heads thrust forward during a crash are especially susceptible. Airbags provide an important layer of protection but cannot prevent all TBIs in major collisions.
In addition to drivers and passengers of cars, motorcyclists and pedestrians suffer high rates of TBI from auto accidents. Motorcyclists lack the enclosed protection of a car and are thrown from their bikes during crashes.
Pedestrians suffer extreme head trauma when struck by a vehicle as their unprotected bodies hit the ground or windshield.
While each truck collision has unique circumstances, data shows certain factors repeatedly contribute to these accidents in California:
Slip and Fall Accidents: A Major Contributor to TBIs
Slip and fall accidents are another common cause of TBI, accounting for almost 50% of TBIs according to the CDC. Trip and fall accidents frequently occur due to wet floors, uneven surfaces, poor lighting, cluttered walking areas, or icy sidewalks and steps.
When people fall, they often strike their heads on the ground or against other objects as they try to break the fall with their hands. The sudden impact transfers energy to the brain, jolting and twisting it inside the skull.
Falls from heights, like ladders or roofs, can produce even more damaging forces on the brain. Seniors suffer disproportionately high rates of TBI from falls due to age-related balance issues and medical conditions that affect mobility.
As the senior population grows in the coming decades, TBIs from slip and fall accidents are likely to increase as well.
Sports and Recreation Accidents
Contact sports and recreational activities lead to significant numbers of TBIs each year. Collisions between players, falls onto hard surfaces, and high-speed impacts with balls, pucks, and bats frequently transmit jolts to players’ heads.
According to the CDC, 283,000 children visit emergency rooms every year due to TBI injuries caused by sports. Some of the sports with the highest rates of TBI include:
- Football – Associated with frequent player collisions and hard hits to the head from tackling or being tackled.
- Hockey and lacrosse – Fast-moving pucks and balls striking players in the head can cause TBIs. Checking other players into walls and the ground also contributes to head injuries.
- Soccer – Heading balls, collisions between players, falls, and inadvertent contact with elbows and knees create TBI risks during games and practices.
- Basketball – Injuries frequently occur when players drive to the basket and draw contact from defenders or fall and strike their heads on the court.
- Baseball and softball – Batters and fielders can be hit by high-speed pitches or line drives, causing TBIs.
- Cheerleading – TBIs result from falls during stunts and routine maneuvers.
- Skiing, snowboarding, and skateboarding – Falls onto hard packed snow or concrete, collisions with other recreationalists, and traumatic impacts from failed jumps and tricks can all produce head injuries.
Proper safety equipment like helmets, head/mouth guards, and pads reduce but do not eliminate the risk of TBI. Referees and coaches must also enforce rules that prohibit dangerous conduct and penalize blows to the head.
Assaults
Assaults involving blunt force trauma or shaking/throwing victims account for approximately 10% of TBIs, according to CDC estimates. Physical attacks often involve blows to the head from hands, feet, sticks, bats, and other weapons. Shaking or throwing infants and toddlers can also generate rotational forces that damage delicate brain tissue and blood vessels.
Domestic violence frequently produces TBI through repeated assaults using hands or improvised weapons. Male and female victims of intimate partner violence suffer some of the highest rates of TBI emergency room visits and hospitalization. TBIs also occur when people are assaulted during robberies, hate crimes, riots, and random acts of violence.
Gang violence contributes disproportionately to TBI among urban youth. Enhanced law enforcement and community-based violence intervention programs can help curb assault rates and subsequent TBIs.
Explosions and Blasts
The intense shockwaves released by explosions and blasts cause some of the most severe TBIs, such as those frequently suffered by military personnel. The extreme overpressurization followed by under pressurization of a blast produces oscillations, shearing forces, and rotations within the brain.
This damages axons, neurons, and blood vessels. Blast TBIs result from:
- Military operations involving artillery, grenades, land mines, and improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
- Terrorist attacks using homemade bombs or commercial explosives.
- Industrial explosions from chemicals, gasses, dust, and pressurized equipment.
- Fireworks accidents during manufacturing or public displays.
Enhanced body armor protects military service members from other injuries but cannot prevent TBIs caused by pressure waves passing through helmets and into the brain. Better blast mitigation materials and detection technologies continue to be developed to reduce TBI risk from combat and explosives.
Additional Causes
While vehicle crashes, falls, sports impacts, assaults, and blasts account for most TBIs, other causes produce significant numbers of head injuries each year. These include:
- Struck by or against objects – Accidental blows to the head from colliding with fixed objects, flying projectiles, swinging objects, or debris from storms or explosions can lead to TBI.
- Penetrating injuries – Gunshots, stabbings, and impalement accidents can inflict focal damage and produce bleeding, swelling, and increased pressure within the skull.
- Shaken baby syndrome – Infants shaken vigorously by a caregiver suffer protracted rotations that damage fragile brain tissue and ruptured bridging veins.
- Self-harm – Suicide attempts involving firearms, poisonings, asphyxia, or blunt force may damage the brain directly or through associated swelling and oxygen depletion.
Don’t go it alone after suffering a traumatic brain injury in an accident that wasn’t your fault. Contact our experienced California personal injury attorneys today to discuss your situation during a free consultation. We handle TBI cases caused by all types of accidents and fight passionately to help clients recover. Visit one of our offices at:
- 21777 Ventura Boulevard Suite 263, Woodland Hills, CA 91364
- 15000 7th Street Suite 201, Victorville, CA 92395
- 8889 West Olympic Boulevard, 3rd Floor, Beverly Hills, CA 90211 Or call us today for a free consultation at (888) 922-8399.