Farmer, Cline & Campbell Personal Injury Lawyers | August 21, 2025 | Personal Injury
It’s easy to confuse the terms contusion and concussion. Not only do they sound quite similar, but they can both happen in just about any kind of accident. Some of their symptoms even overlap.
Nevertheless, they’re not the same thing, and it helps to know what sets the two apart. Understanding these distinctions can also help you recognize when to seek medical care and whether your injury could form the basis of a personal injury claim.
What’s a Contusion?
The word “contusion” is essentially a fancier name for a bruise. It involves bleeding under the skin that’s been caused by some sort of trauma. You’ve undoubtedly seen them on your arms, legs, and just about anywhere else, as they form whenever you bump into something too hard.
A brain contusion, however, is far more serious. It typically occurs when a direct impact (such as in a car crash or fall) causes the brain to strike the inside of the skull with enough force to damage blood vessels, which can lead to swelling or bleeding within the brain tissue.
What Are Common Symptoms of a Contusion?
Contusions usually show up on an imaging scan, but symptoms to watch for beforehand include the following:
- Slurred speech
- Loss of consciousness
- Seizures
- Trouble with focus
- Numbness or weakness in parts of the body
What makes contusions so dangerous is that these signs might not show up right away. What you might think is just a bump to the head at first could be a serious injury to one of the most delicate and vital organs in your body, and things will worsen over time. That’s why medical attention is so important, even if things don’t look that bad from the outside.
What’s a Concussion?
By most medical standards, a concussion is considered a mild traumatic brain injury. However, unlike a contusion, you can’t always see it on a scan, as a concussion affects how the brain works instead of damaging the tissue itself.
When you are concussed, your brain has been shaken around inside your head. The movement stretches or damages brain cells, which tends to disrupt communication between neurons. These injuries are not always caused by a direct blow to the head, either; things like whiplash, violent shaking, or even a blast wave can cause one.
What Are Common Symptoms of a Concussion?
Concussion symptoms vary from person to person, though they typically involve the following:
- Headaches
- Nausea
- Confusion
- Memory problems
- Mood swings
- Irritability
- Sensitivity to light or noise
These symptoms can last for days, weeks, or even longer. Some people deal with lingering effects called post-concussion syndrome. Suffice it to say, even a so-called “mild” concussion can have serious consequences, especially if you’ve suffered from more than one.
Why Distinguishing (and Diagnosing) Both Injuries Matters
Often, accident victims experience both a concussion and a contusion simultaneously. This overlap makes diagnosing and treating the injuries harder and creates additional complications in any resulting legal claim.
A successful personal injury case needs proof of the injury and how it can be linked to the accident. Whether it involves one or both injuries, you need to be able to show its physical, emotional, and financial impact on your life. That can be tough to do with trauma that is “invisible” at first glance.
Contusions and concussions might sound like interchangeable terms, but they’re not. One directly damages brain tissue, while the other disrupts brain function. Nevertheless, both can change a person’s life in ways they never would have expected.
Contact the Charleston Personal Injury Lawyers at Farmer, Cline & Campbell Personal Injury Lawyers for Help Today
If you’ve suffered injuries in an accident caused by someone else’s negligence, the full scope of your symptoms can affect the outcome of your claim. The better you understand the difference, the stronger your case.
For more information, please contact an experienced personal injury lawyer at Farmer, Cline & Campbell Personal Injury Lawyers, to schedule a free initial consultation today. We have convenient locations in Charleston, Beckley, Morgantown, WV.
Farmer, Cline & Campbell Personal Injury Lawyers – Charleston
746 Myrtle Rd
Charleston, WV 25314
(304) 346-5990
Farmer, Cline & Campbell Personal Injury Lawyers – Beckley
101 N Kanawha St, Suite 101
Beckley, WV 25801
(304) 252-5990
Farmer, Cline & Campbell Personal Injury Lawyers – Morgantown
453 Suncrest Towne Centre Drive, Suite 300
Morgantown, WV 26505
(304) 225-5990
