Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) are among the most common injuries cyclists experience. More commonly, these injuries, when mild, are called “concussions.”
Understanding the signs of a concussion following a crash are important because it can help you heal better and faster and seek out the right care when you need it.
Cyclists often experience concussions in crashes when they are hit or thrown from their bicycle. Concussions don’t always happen and they don’t always happen in conjunction with other injuries, sometimes they are the sole injury.
If you’re experiencing the concussion symptoms and finding that it’s impacting your quality of life after a crash and a driver is at fault, you are likely entitled to financial compensation that can help cover the costs of health care, the time spent missing out on work, and emotional damage and suffering.
Attorneys at Bay Area Bicycle Law are experts in handling these cases. Call (415) 466-8717 to talk to a staff member today.
What is a concussion?
A concussion can be an invisible injury. When you fall from a bicycle during a crash you may be lucky enough to avoid cuts, scrapes, broken bones, and bruises, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve escaped a brain injury.
Concussions happen when a person experiences a blow to the body or head — for cyclists this might mean being hit by a car or being thrown from a bicycle — and the force shakes the brain inside the skull.
The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) defines concussion as a “temporary” injury to the brain. However, there are nuances and research and policy changes now suggest that TBIs — even when considered “mild” — can be a chronic condition.
What are the symptoms?
Like most TBIs, there are a range of symptoms for concussion and they can vary from person to person depending on the nature of the injury. For some, symptoms last only a few minutes or hours and for others, symptoms may linger for months.
“Some people will have obvious symptoms of a concussion, such as passing out or forgetting what happened right before the injury. But other people won’t,” Stanford Medicine explains. “With rest, most people fully recover from a concussion. Some people recover within a few hours. Other people take a few weeks to recover.”
Symptoms that a person with a concussion may experience include:
- Headache after the injury
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Dizziness or trouble finding your balance
- Confusion
- Tiredness or groginess
- Trouble sleeping at night
- Difficulty focusing
- Mood changes, such as feelings of anxiety or depression
- Memory loss
These symptoms may alter quality of life for days or months, depending on the person. Secondary injuries may also impact symptoms and recovery.
“Someone with concussion either suddenly loses consciousness or their state of consciousness or awareness changes suddenly,” NINDS says. “A second concussion closely following the first one—the so-called “second hit” phenomenon—can lead to permanent damage or even death in some cases. Post-concussion syndrome involves symptoms that last for weeks or longer.”
Because of a lack of physical evidence that comes with concussion, it’s important to track symptoms so that a doctor can help as best they can, especially when symptoms linger for more than a few days.
Treatment for concussions
Doctors often suggest rest as the best treatment for concussions. In the first few days following the injury, rest can be important when symptoms are more severe. This may require taking a few days away from work or social obligations.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends refraining from activities that may worsen the concussion or prevent the injury from healing. After a few days of rest, ease back into light physical activity and when symptoms have totally resolved, you should be able to return to normal life.
Symptoms of concussion may require other treatments. A doctor may prescribe a medication for nausea, for example. In cases where more chronic symptoms persist, specialists may be needed to identify more intensive treatment options.
Psychological conditions that accompany a TBI, including anxiety and depression, may also require treatment. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), for example, can have a significant impact on a cyclist who experiences a concussion as a result of a crash.
“There is overlap in the symptoms of TBI and PTSD, especially mild TBI symptoms,” health experts from the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs explain. “For example, both PTSD and TBI may include sleep problems, negative thoughts and feelings, irritability and anxiety, or memory problems.”
Short- and long-term impacts of a concussion
Concussions are considered to be a “mild” TBI, but they can often have lasting impacts. As you’ve already read, concussions come with great variability. For some people, there will be no loss of consciousness, but they may have symptoms that linger for weeks or months. Some people may feel intense psychological effects and others will not.
It’s not clear to researchers why some people experience symptoms that last for weeks or months and others don’t – but recent policy changes have shifted toward thinking about the long term effects of TBI and concussion.
In July 2024, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) officially recognized TBI as a chronic health condition. That meant an expansion in coverage for TBI care, treating it like other chronic conditions, such as heart disease or diabetes.
In response to the designation, the Brain Injury Association of America (BIAA), writes that “allocation of additional public health resources to focus on the lifelong effects of brain injury as well as health insurance plans, primarily Medicare and Medicaid, providing additional benefits and other supports as they do for other chronic health conditions. The greatest benefit, however, would be an increase in public awareness of the long-term effects of brain injury that affect the estimated 5 million Americans with a brain injury-related disability.”
For cyclists, concussions can have significant short- and long-term impacts on daily life, even beyond cycling, so seeking the right care to address symptoms is important. Talk to your doctor and ask for a second opinion if necessary. Because concussions can be difficult to diagnose, they often go overlooked and underdiagnosed. Some long-term symptoms can be common, so don’t write them off.