Texas residents who suffer a mild concussion may actually experience lasting issues as a result. A concussion is still a traumatic brain injury, and this means that the problems associated with it can go on for months or years.
Cognitive issues may linger
A study that appeared in the March 2022 issue of the journal Neurology found that a year after a concussion, 14% of participants had suffered a decline or impairment in their cognitive skills. This was compared to 5% of the control group, individuals who had not had a concussion. People with high blood sugar as well as those who had no health insurance, less education and depression all tended to have poorer cognitive outcomes compared to those for whom these were not factors.
Brain injury medicine
Mild brain injuries are not well understood. The assumption has been that there will be a full recovery afterwards, but this study indicates that for a significant minority of people, this is not the case. People with these poor outcomes may be helped by the specialty known as brain injury medicine. Physicians in this field have a focus on the various elements of a brain injury, including both neurological and psychiatric implications, and may be better able to help individuals with concussions.
One of the challenges involved in identifying and treating this kind of injury is that symptoms may be delayed. Another is that a brain injury can occur when the brain is jostled in the skull without the head actually hitting something. This might be the case in a car accident that involves a sudden stop, the kind of injury that can also cause whiplash. Based on the findings in this study, people with a mild concussion may also want to monitor their health over the long term and see a doctor if symptoms persist.