Hunt Bonneau:
So concussions are unique because they’re invisible. Unlike a broken bone that you know you’ve suffered at the car crash scene, concussion symptoms may not manifest themselves for hours or even days. So what we’re going to do right now is going to go see Dr. Tim Chapman, who specializes in car wrecks and victims of concussions. And he’s going to talk to us about how he diagnosis the concussion, but also how he brings in a team of medical professionals, neurologists, psychologists, and other folks, to help bring a group approach to treating the concussion injury. So come on along. How you doing, Tim?
Dr. Tim Chapman:
How you doing? Good to see you.
Hunt Bonneau:
Kind of walk us through how you diagnose a concussion.
Dr. Tim Chapman:
One of the most difficult things with whiplash injuries is that there are so many variables that dictate either the severity or the tissues that are even involved. Some cases can be so severe that we get traumatic axon damage, actual mechanical breakdown of the brain itself.
Hunt Bonneau:
All right. That’s a good point because when I’m talking to a jury, one of the defenses the insurance company’s going to say is, “Well, they didn’t complain about it at the scene. Or they never told anybody they had a concussion.” And you mentioned that when they come in, they might tell you this and they never relate that their headache or they don’t relate that their frustration actually comes from the concussion.
Dr. Tim Chapman:
Absolutely. Sometimes, and what more likely is, people will get some type of sheer force cellular damage. They’ll have a continuance of pain due to a biochemical change. And then we work very closely with our neurologist to be able to not only document the severity of the injuries, but to be able to document the improvement as well.
Hunt Bonneau:
Most of the people I’m talking to actually go, “I don’t think I’ve suffered a concussion.” Well, are you forgetful? “Oh yeah.” Is your memory? “Oh yeah.” What’s your wife say? They don’t even draw the link. Why is that?
Dr. Tim Chapman:
Most of them will have some type of history of you know what? I am having difficulty with formulating thoughts, sentences, activities, difficulty sleeping, headaches. There’s so many different factors that they don’t think are related that once we pull that out in discussion and start combining it with our other findings, we know exactly where they’re at.