Jason Stephens | March 24, 2025 | Brain Injuries

Can a Head Injury Cause a Stroke?

Whether you’re involved in a car accident or you suffer a fall, a head injury can turn your life upside down. Each year, over 200,000 people in the U.S. are hospitalized with traumatic brain injuries (TBIs), and nearly 70,000 die from these serious conditions. This doesn’t include cases that don’t require hospitalization or those that go untreated.

What’s even more alarming is that symptoms of head trauma can last for weeks, months, or even years and lead to additional health risks like stroke. Our Fort Worth brain injury lawyers understand the immense emotional and physical toll that comes with dealing with the aftermath of a serious injury. When you’re dealing with the trauma of a significant injury, preponderant medical bills, and an inability to work, the last thing you need to worry about is further medical complications.

Even so, it’s essential to fully understand the long-term risks associated with head injuries so you can make informed medical decisions. Can a head injury cause a stroke?

Head Injuries and Risk of Stroke

Brain injuries can entail a wide range of potential symptoms, from headaches and dizziness to nausea, vomiting, and neurological issues like numbness or tingling in the extremities. These symptoms often manifest immediately and may be short-term or lingering.

Unfortunately, head injuries can also damage or weaken blood vessels in the brain and disrupt natural clotting function. This, in turn, can increase the risk of stroke by almost tenfold. Two different types of strokes could occur: ischemic and hemorrhagic.

Ischemic Stroke

When you suffer a head injury, it can impact the blood clotting process. If too many clots start to form, they may block blood vessels, leading to an ischemic stroke as the brain is deprived of vital oxygen and nutrients.

Hemorrhagic Stroke

A hemorrhagic stroke occurs when a blood vessel ruptures and blood leaks into surrounding tissue. This can happen due to direct trauma to the vessel, thinning of the blood that decreases clotting function, or a combination of factors.

Warning Signs

There’s no guaranteed way to prevent a stroke, although you can reduce your overall risk by maintaining healthy blood pressure and cholesterol levels. If you’ve suffered a head injury, you should watch for warning signs like vision and balance problems, difficulty speaking, and muscle weakness, and seek immediate medical help if you experience them.

Whether you suffered a head injury during a motorcycle accident or a workplace mishap, you may have a case for compensation.

If your injury occurred because of the negligent or malicious behavior of another person or entity, you’ll need to prove that the other party’s misconduct was to blame. However, you’ll have a limited amount of time to do so.

The Statute of Limitations for Filing a Lawsuit After a Head Injury Causes a Stroke

According to Texas Civil Code §16.003, injury victims have two years to file a compensation claim. But what if you have a stroke related to your accident after the statute of limitations has passed?

In this situation, the state has a discovery rule adjusting the statute of limitations to reflect the date you noticed the injury as opposed to the date of the incident itself. Speak with an experienced personal injury lawyer to find out whether you qualify for this exception.

In a perfect world, you’d recover quickly from any brain injury stemming from a vehicle crash or slip and fall accident, and the at-fault party’s insurance would cover all related costs. Unfortunately, a TBI can have a lasting impact on your life, and insurance providers aren’t in the business of handing out free money.

The best thing you can do after an accident is to seek medical assistance to diagnose and treat your injuries and follow up as new symptoms develop. A qualified attorney can help you fight for the compensation you need to pay your medical bills and return to your everyday life.

Contact Our Personal Injury Law Firm in Fort Worth, TX

If you’ve been injured in an accident in Fort Worth and need legal help, contact our Fort Worth and Weatherford personal injury lawyers at Stephens Law Personal Injury | Wrongful Death | Truck Accidents to schedule a free consultation.

Stephens Law Personal Injury | Wrongful Death | Truck Accidents
1300 S University Dr # 406
Fort Worth, TX 76107
(817) 420-7000

Stephens Law Personal Injury | Wrongful Death | Truck Accidents – Weatherford Office
109 York Ave Suite #201
Weatherford, TX 76086
(817) 409-7000