Potholes
 

When driving a car can potholes cause concussions, tbis or head injuries of any kind?

I've read that people that have PCS can have their symptoms irked by driving over potholes, but I think this is because their brains are inflamed (larger) and can therefore hit the inner wall of their skull with less force.

Also, I know that people riding bikes in the street have gotten concussions from running into potholes, but this seems to be because bikes transfer more of the force to the rider.

But for a person that is not suffering from a head injury at the moment and driving a car, can a pothole cause a problem? I am asking because as I was driving today I took a new route and neglected to see a deep pothole in my path. My car doesn't have the smoothest ride and the pothole was pretty darn deep. I was surprised by how far my car sunk into the ground when I hit it. I know that cars' suspensions absorb some force, but is there enough left to hurt anyone?

Thanks for your consideration and good health to you all.

Calm,

I have an Ag related job and work covers a lot of pothole and washboard roads.

Feb of this year when I returned to work I could not go down them and when I did start I needed someone to drive me....or I payed for a few days after.

Now I can tolerate them driving myself and usually the worst is a sore head if it is a bunch of driving.

Bud

calmwaters,

No, there was not enough force from just one pothole to cause a concussion. There is also not enough force from riding a bike over a pothole either.

The 'hitting the inner wall of the skull' idea is not sound until the forces are much higher than anything without an impact can cause. The only time the brain moves separate from the skull is during a rotational motion. Otherwise, the brain and thin layer of surrounding fluid have very similar densities so they will move together. If there is enough force in the impact, then a shock wave will transit the brain matter.

The two issues that can cause symptoms are stress to the neck and anxiety/startle response. These would be more of a problem to someone with a PCS history.