Is sudden acceleration sub concussive?
 

I was in the back seat of a car (regular Uber) when the driver pressed the acceleration suddenly. This caused my head (along with part of my upper body) to move back suddenly due to inertia (not whiplash, but just glided backwards and stopped), but didn't hit anything behind.

Throughout this, I had grabbed the hand support above the windows.

This happened twice in the same car ride, in an interval of 15 minutes.

I didn't have much symptoms after that, apart from a little nauseous feeling, which went away after a few hours of rest (might be due to inner ear balance issues).

Is this equivalent to a sub concussive force (akin to header in soccer)?

Also, I'm worried that the brain might have hit the back of the skull due to sudden acceleration. Is the g force enough to cause a collision of brain with skull, or do the CSF and other layers would've prevented this?

Thanks in advance.

Hey. I’ve had car rides that’ve seemed to do me harm, but I tend to chalk the symptoms up to bumps or jostling rather than acceleration. It was only when I was already in a bad way and went on a very long trip over and down mountain roads that I had feelings like the ones you describe.

However... I have definitely found this to be the case with airplanes and high-speed trains. Turning to the side seems to help me on the train. My working theory is that there’s less room for the brain to travel in that position... or else that my injury was more front-to-back than left-right.

Like most triggers, acceleration is a tough one to convince friends and family of. It’s not like the effects leave you totally incapacitated, so I’m not sure how this could ever be confirmed. I wouldn’t feel comfortable sharing my thinking on this outside of this forum.

I share your concern about the effects of subconcussive forces over time, but I do think you can expect a completely recovery from the (subtle) effects of being in a fast-moving vehicle now and then. I’ve been on a downward trajectory for a while, but, even now, when I’m well, I’m really well (as in near-enough to whole as to be acceptable). I don’t see how that would be possible if my past subconcussive experiences were all leaving a mark/taking a pound of flesh.