Many slip-and-fall injuries are immediately noticeable. When people break bones or sustain lacerations, the pain, bleeding and other instant symptoms make it clear they require medical attention. However, people can potentially sustain significant but invisible injuries in a slip-and-fall scenario. In such cases, they may not realize until the next day or even later that the incident left them with a serious medical condition.
A well-known invisible injury is a serious potential concern for those who lose their balance and fall abruptly.
Head injuries are typically invisible
Unless the force of impact breaks the skin, a head injury, such as a traumatic brain injury (TBI), may not be visibly apparent. Head injuries do tend to bleed more than similar wounds elsewhere on the body.
Without visible blood loss, people may not realize that they have sustained serious traumatic injuries if they hit their heads when they fall. It can take several days for the inflammation or pressure developing inside the skull to produce concerning symptoms.
Those who hit their heads or lose consciousness during a slip-and-fall are among those most in need of medical evaluation afterward. A delay in diagnosis can raise questions about whether the slip-and-fall actually caused a TBI. The injured person is also at risk of their symptoms progressing.
Taking action
Seeing a doctor can help those injured in slip-and-fall incidents diagnose brain injuries and prevent their conditions from worsening due to delayed treatment. People who fall in public locations typically benefit from reporting the incident before leaving and seeking medical care if there are any warning signs that they sustained a brain injury. They may also need legal guidance if they wish to file premises liability claims to recover their losses, and that’s okay.