Common Signs and Symptoms for Head Injuries

Different Head Injury Classifications:

The Glasgow Scale is used to measure the initial severity of a brain injury. It was developed in Glasgow, England and has gained widespread acceptance. Many studies have shown that the lower the initial score, the poorer the long term prognosis is.

Head Injury Classification:

Severe Head Injury..................................GCS score of 8 or less
Moderate Head Injury............................. GCS score of 9 to 12
Mild Head Injury.....................................GCS score of 13 to 15

How GCS Score:

Eye Opening Response
Spontaneous - open with blinking at baseline .......4 points
To verbal stimuli, command, speech .......................3 points
To pain only (not applied to face) ..............................2 points
No response .................................................................1 point

Verbal Response
Oriented .........................................................................5 points
Confused conversation, but able to answer
questions .......................................................................4 points
Inappropriate words .....................................................3 points
Incomprehensible speech ..........................................2 points
No response ..................................................................1 points

Motor Response
Obeys commands for movement ..............................6 points
Purposeful movement to painful stimulus ...............5 points
Withdraws in response to pain...................................4 points
Flexion in response to pain
(decorticate posturing) .................................................3 points
Extension response in response to pain (decerebrate posturing)........................................................................2 points
No response ..................................................................1 point

Categorization:
Coma: No eye opening, no ability to follow commands,
no word verbalizations..............................................3-8 points

Disclaimer: This scale helps to gauge the impact of a wide variety of conditions such as acute brain damage due to traumatic and/or vascular injuries or infections, metabolic disorders (e.g., hepatic or renal failure, hypoglycemia, diabetic ketosis), etc. Education is necessary to the proper application of this scale.

Common Signs & Symptoms

• Cognitive symptoms
  • Attention problems
    
  • Concentration problems
    
  • Memory problems
  • Orientation problems
    
• Physical symptoms
  • Headaches
  • Dizziness
  • Insomnia
  • Fatigue
    
  • Uneven gait
  • Nausea
    
  • Blurred vision 
  • Seizures
    
• Behavioral changes
  • Irritability
    
  • Depression
  • Anxiety 
  • Sleep disturbances
    
• Problems with emotional control
  
• Problems related to: 
  • employment
  • marriage
  • relationships
  • home management
  • school management

Because a brain injury can cause physical, cognitive and emotional consequences that can affect a person for a lifetime, it is important that Brain Injury is understood and that competent, highly qualified legal help be obtained.

At Cullotta Law Offices, we concentrate our practice on representing persons with traumatic brain injury.