If you’ve been told you have a "mild" traumatic brain injury, you might feel confused or even dismissed, especially if your symptoms don’t seem minor. This term is one of the biggest sources of misunderstanding in medicine.

Let's clear up what this classification actually means and why your very real symptoms matter.

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Why "mild" is misleading

Doctors classify traumatic brain injuries using certain medical criteria measured right after the injury, not based on how you feel later on. This system helps emergency room doctors determine the immediate care you need, but it doesn’t predict your long-term recovery.

This medical classification considers factors such as whether you lost consciousness for less than 30 minutes, experienced memory loss for less than a day, or had a normal brain scan. It doesn’t measure how you feel later, how well you can work or keep up with relationships, or how your daily life is affected.

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What you're actually experiencing

Around 70-90% of all traumatic brain injuries are called "mild," but the symptoms often don’t feel that way. Many people have trouble concentrating, memory issues, slower thinking, ongoing headaches, dizziness, tiredness that doesn’t get better with rest, sensitivity to light or noise, irritability, anxiety, or feel overwhelmed by everyday tasks.

Unlike a broken bone that shows up on an X-ray, mTBI often causes tiny changes in the brain that don’t show up on regular scans. As a result, symptoms can be difficult to explain. They might not show up right away, and you may have both good and bad days. You might look fine to others, even when you don’t feel fine.

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When symptoms don't go away

While most people recover from a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) within days or weeks, approximately 10-20% experience a prolonged recovery. In these cases, known as Persistent Post-Concussive Symptoms (PPCS), symptoms can last for months or even years.

This condition can make it hard to work, keep up with relationships, or handle daily life. Even simple things like grocery shopping or driving in traffic can feel exhausting. Because symptoms come and go and aren’t visible, it’s often hard for others to understand what you’re going through, which can feel isolating.

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Getting the help you need

If ongoing symptoms after a head injury are disrupting your life, let us help. You may need neuropsychological testing, symptom tracking, and specialized imaging studies.

While there's no magic cure for mTBI, approaches that can help include cognitive rest during early recovery, gentle and graduated exercise, prioritizing sleep, stress management, pacing strategies, and reducing environmental stimuli such as bright lights or loud noises.

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You don’t have to go through recovery alone. You can book a video visit with a Neura concussion specialist to get a plan that’s right for you.

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