Can you cause brain damage by braking too suddenly in a passenger car?

Question

Just curious. And I'm not talking about going real fast, then slamming your breaks. I mean the sudden, hard jolts you get when you're at a stop sign, start to pull out at like 5 or 10mph, then a car comes barreling around the corner and you have to slam your breaks back on, thereby torrenting much energy up through your body and causing your head to lurch forwards hard enough to cause a transient, one or two second daze. Is there enough force here to do anything to a young, healthy person? Or must the head actually strike something, like the steering wheel or dash board, in order to generate sufficient stressors so as to cause damage?

Answer 1

don't think you would get brain damage from that,but you could get a broken neck that easy.you can sneeze and break your neck.

Answer 2

Most likely spinal injury if your head doesn't hit the dashboard but snaps back. If it does hit the wheel or dash...then there is a small chance of a brain injury...and a very high chance of spinal injury.

Answer 3

That is enough to "slam the brain" against the skull, which can cause brain damage.

You have heard of "shaken baby syndrome" causing brain damage.

Short term memory can be damaged forever.

I met a lady who did not hit her head, but her head did shake forward and back in the car.  She did get brain damage.

Answer 4

No.  maybe whip lash to the neck, but our brains are very protected by our skull.  We really have be hit to be damaged.

Answer 5

I got tapped in the rear bumper, and my head never hit the wheel, just like whiplash, but I got an instant dull headache which turned out to be a brain bleed. Needed brain surgery the next day to stop the bleeding.So I'd have to guess yes.

Answer 6

If the change of direction is enough for your brain to bounce from the front to back of the inside of your skull it can swell and cause huge problems, even death.  So brain damage is definately possible.