McAllen Brain Injury & TBI Lawyer

Types of Spinal Cord Injuries

The location of the injury along the spinal cord determines what parts of the body are affected. Cervical Spinal Cord Injury Affects vertebrae C1-C8 and causes paralysis or weakness in both arms and legs. This is also known as quadriplegia or tetraplegia. Thoracic Spinal Cord Injury Affects vertebrae T1-T12. These injuries can cause paralysis or weakness of the legs along with loss of physical sensation, bowel, bladder and sexual function. Lumbar Spinal Cord Injury Affects vertebrae L1-L5 and result in weakness or paralysis of the legs. This is also known as paraplegia. Sacral Spinal Cord Injury Affects vertebrae S1-S5. Sacral level injuries mainly cause loss of bowel and bladder function as well as sexual dysfunction. They can also cause weakness or paralysis of the hips and legs.

Effects of TBI

The effects of TBI can be profound. Individuals with extremely severe injuries can be left in long-term unresponsive states. For many, long-term rehabilitation is often necessary to maximize function and independence. Even with mild TBI, the consequences to a person’s life can be dramatic. Change in brain function can have a dramatic impact on family, job, social and community interaction.

Protect Your Rights

The McAllen brain injury attorneys at the Law Firm of Ricardo A. Garcia can help answer all of your legal questions. We recognize that everyone is an individual and that not every case is the same. We start by listening, gathering evidence and fighting hard to make sure our clients obtain the justice they deserve so that they can get back to feeling a sense of normalcy and get back to living their lives. If you’ve suffered a traumatic brain injury as the result of another person or party’s negligence, please contact our McAllen personal injury lawyer here at the Law Firm of Ricardo A. Garcia to schedule a free consultation. We will sit down with you and discuss the particulars of your individual case, and help you determine what is the next, best step for you and your family.

Traumatic Brain Injuries Can Leave Long Lasting Effects

Whenever someone sets foot behind the wheel of a car, truck, motorcycle, or even walks across the street, it is possible for disaster to strike. While truck accidents, car accidents, and similar motor vehicle accidents can range in severity from the most minor of fender-benders to massive, multi-car pileups, even the smallest car accident can lead to significant injuries. One of the injuries that people can sustain is called a traumatic brain injury. Unfortunately, these injuries can have lasting effects on a person that could impact the rest of their life.

What is a Traumatic Brain Injury?

There are many different types of brain injuries that people can sustain. Two of these are the anoxic brain injury and the traumatic brain injury. An anoxic brain injury is one that develops when the brain has been deprived of oxygen for an extended period of time. People should think of an injury due to drowning or perhaps a surgical mishap where a patient goes without oxygen for an extended period of time. Without oxygen, the brain cells become starved of a vital nutrient and start to die. A traumatic injury implies that an external force was exerted on the outside of the skull. This force can rupture the brain cells, causing bleeding and swelling, leading to tissue damage.

What are the Symptoms of a Brain Injury?

One of the dangers of these brain injuries that people may not even know that they have suffered one. For example, many young athletes have suffered concussions without ever knowing it. While there has been an increase in the amount of focus on these dangerous head injuries, many of them still fly under the radar. There are a number of symptoms that people should watch out for that could clue them in to a brain injury. Even something as minor as a headache could be a sign of a brain injury. Other symptoms include loss of consciousness, fainting, difficulty with simple tasks, changes in vision, trouble hearing, and memory loss. Some brain injuries can have some or all of these symptoms. Other brain injuries may not have any of these symptoms at all.

How is a Brain Injury Diagnosed?

The diagnosis of a brain injury is based on a variety of factors. First, the doctor will collect a history of the injury. They will ask about the timing behind the development of the symptoms and ask about any events in the person’s past that may increase the risk of suffering a brain injury. After this, the physician will perform a physical exam. The patient will be asked a variety of questions and perform some tests to see if they have suffered any neurological damage. Further, the physician may perform a scan, such as a CT scan or an MRI, to look for signs of damage on imaging.

Loss of Sensory Function

One of the factors that sets a traumatic brain injury apart from the other injuries is that this damage can leave a lasting effects on the patient and impact their quality of life forever. The brain is a bundle of neurons and uses these neurons to communicate with the rest of the body. For example, sensation regarding temperature, pressure, and position in space is sent from the rest of the body to the brain. Damage to these neurons can lead to a lack of ability to sense temperature or pressure in certain areas of the body. People may not be able to coordinate their limbs in space, making it difficult to perform basic functions. These are symptoms and complications that can last for the rest of a person’s life.

Loss of Motor Function

When people think about the loss of motor function, they often think about damage to the spinal cord. In reality, the spinal cord connects to the brain stem and the rest of the brain. If someone has damage to the neurons that descend from the brain stem into the spinal cord, they may lose certain motor functions. Perhaps they lose the ability to move certain fingers or toes. Maybe they lose motor function in multiple limbs. Regardless, these losses in motor function could last the rest of their life. For this reason, it is important for people to seek medical attention for a traumatic brain injury as early as possible. The earlier these injuries are diagnosed, the faster they can be treated and the better the patient’s quality of life will be.

Alterations in Personality

One of the often overlooked consequences of a traumatic brain injury is the damage to a person’s personality. The various lobes of the brain control different aspects of a person’s personality. Damage to these lobes, through bleeding, swelling, or otherwise, can have significant impacts on a person’s personality. In this manner, people’s very identities could be changed and their personality and mannerisms may be unrecognizable to their family members. For example, someone could lose all of their inhibitions and be unable to control their actions. Other people may forget who they are. Some individuals could lose the ability to think for themselves. Depending on the type of brain damage that an individual has suffered, their personality could be changed permanently.

Help is Available

When people are trying to prevent these long-term consequences from developing following a traumatic brain injury, it is important to start early. From the moment the injury has been diagnosed, people will start the physical therapy process. Professionals will work with the patient to preserve the function that is still there and regain what has been lost. Any individual who has suffered a traumatic brain injury should reach out to the personal injury attorneys at GOM in McAllen, TX. There are friendly and qualified professionals standing by who genuinely care about patients and their quality of life. They would be happy to help anyone who calls.