Apparently minor trauma to the head can lead to brain damage that can have a profound and debilitating affect on person's life. Mild head trauma can leave the victim feeling outwardly unaffected and often the brain damage goes unnoticed. In many instances the brain damage is either left untreated or mis- diagnosed. Analyzing the brain function is a complex process and it can be difficult to ascertain the long term effects of the brain damage immediately after an accident. This is especially true there when there appear to be no obvious short term affects on the victim's health and when there is physical manifestation of the brain injury.

Brain injuries are usually categorized as mild, moderate or severe with the diagnosis depending on various factors. The factors used to diagnose a brain injury include loss of consciousness, whether there is a loss of memory; whether there was any noticeable neurological damage such as loss of motor coordination, loss of sensory perception; or loss or affected speech. Moderate and severe brain damage are usually accompanied with symptoms evident in the immediately after an accident. Mild brain damage can be more difficult to diagnose.

Unfortunately mild brain injuries go untreated and often lead to long term or lasting effects on the physical and emotional well being of the injured. A major problem with diagnosis is that the symptoms may appear to be completely unrelated to the initial brain injury. There are many possible manifestations of the brain injury. The physical effects of brain damage can manifest in a stiffness in muscles, muscle weakness, dizziness or difficulty with balance, falling over; clumsiness, migraines or headaches, tiredness and fatigue, seizures, loss of sight, loss of hearing, loss of speech, stuttering.

Mild brain injury could also lead to cognitive deficits, loss of memory, confusion and difficulty in retaining attention, a slow down in processing information, loss of the ability to read, loss in the ability to write, loss of hand eye coordination, loss in the ability to make sense of objects and the relationship between objects.

Mild brain injury can also lead to emotional difficulties such as becoming irritable and tense.
The injured may also see mood swings, or laugh or crying at inappropriate moments and at inappropriate things. Someone with an untreated damage causing emotional problems may even begin to act odd or unexpected in social situations.

There are statute of limitations which impose a time limit to make a personal injury claim. There are different time limits for each person depending on the specific situation which could range from six months to several years, but it would be risky to wait more than a few months to consult a personal injury attorney. There are simply to many different situations and too many factors affecting the time limits to file a lawsuits. When the brain injury is severe enough there may a tolling of the statue meaning the statute is extended, but the injury has to be so severe such that the personal injury victim cannot take care of himself or herself. In which case there has to be someone appointed to file a lawsuit on behalf of the victim, but many instances of mild brain damage do not result in such extremities.

Following an accident the victim should speak with a personal injury attorney to insure a claim is timely filed. A personal injury attorney can be instrumental in assisting obtain optimum