Concussion and post-concussion syndrome
A concussion is classified as a mild traumatic brain injury. The word mild refers to the risk of dying from it, not to what it does to your life, and the gap between those two meanings causes a great deal of trouble in injury claims.
What it looks like
Symptoms cluster in four groups, and people typically report only the first because it is the one that sounds like an injury.
| Physical | Headache, nausea, dizziness, blurred vision, sensitivity to light and noise, fatigue, balance problems, tinnitus. |
|---|---|
| Cognitive | Slowed thinking, difficulty concentrating, memory problems, feeling foggy, losing the thread mid-sentence. |
| Emotional | Irritability, unusual emotional reactions, anxiety, low mood, a short fuse that family notice before you do. |
| Sleep | Sleeping much more or much less, trouble falling asleep, waking unrefreshed. |
Onset is often delayed by a day or two. Many people drive home from a crash, go to work the next morning, and only realize something is wrong on day three — which creates the treatment gap that gets used against them.
Rest is no longer the advice
The guidance has changed substantially, and a lot of people are still following a version of it from a decade ago.
Current practice favors a brief period of relative rest for the first day or two, followed by a gradual, supervised return to light activity, rather than prolonged dark-room isolation. Extended inactivity is now understood to prolong recovery rather than shorten it. Vestibular and ocular therapy help specific symptom patterns, and exertion testing guides a safe return.
When it does not resolve
Where symptoms persist beyond the expected window — commonly described as beyond about three months — it is often called post-concussion syndrome. Who develops it is not well predicted by the severity of the original blow.
Persistent symptoms deserve proper assessment: neurology, neuropsychological testing, vestibular assessment, and a look at sleep and mood, all of which interact. The claim consequences are significant, because a person who cannot reliably concentrate for a full working day has lost earning capacity even if their job title has not changed.
Questions people ask
I did not go to the hospital after the crash. Can I still have had a concussion?
Yes, and it is common. Symptoms frequently appear a day or two later, after the adrenaline has gone. Get assessed when you notice them and tell the clinician exactly when the symptoms started and what happened — the record of that conversation becomes important.
Should I be resting in a dark room?
Not for long. Current guidance favors a short period of relative rest followed by gradual, supervised return to activity. Prolonged inactivity is now thought to slow recovery rather than speed it. Ask your clinician about a structured return rather than waiting it out alone.
How do you prove a concussion when every test is normal?
Through the contemporaneous records of what was reported at the time, formal neuropsychological testing with validity measures, consistent treatment, and specific testimony from people who knew you before — describing concrete changes rather than general ones.
Related
Reviewed October 2026 by Simon Aziz Budhwani, Esq., the attorney responsible for this site. Legal statements here name the California code section they rely on, so you can check them rather than trust them. This is information about the law in general, not advice about your situation.
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