After you’re in a car accident, you’ll likely be working with your lawyer to determine how to get the most compensation for your injuries. One thing you’ll need to do is to be able to show the kind of injury you have and explain how it impacts your life. There are many kinds of brain injuries, so defining what yours is will help the court or the insurance company issuing a settlement decide on a fair payout.

Traumatic brain injuries are some of the most common. A concussion can happen if you hit your head or are impacted by something that collides with your skull. Concussions may be caused by whiplash, violent shaking of your head or even gunshot wounds.

With a concussion, your brain’s blood vessels may stretch and the nerves may be damaged. You could pass out or be aware during the concussion, depending on the severity of the blow. What’s interesting about concussions is that they may not show up on imaging scans, so you’ll need additional documentation from a medical provider to show you’ve suffered one. Your paperwork may say you’ve suffered a complex neurobehavioral syndrome, which is essentially the same thing.

You can suffer permanent or temporary injury from a concussion. You may lose your memory, have changes in your personality or have trouble functioning normally due to headaches or other issues. Blood clots can form in the brain; sometimes, these can be fatal. Concussions on the whole can take between several months and years to heal, which means you need to be compensated for the impact that it will have on you indefinitely.

Source: Brain Injury Alliance Utah, “Types and Levels of Brain Injury,” accessed Sep. 10, 2015