Question: I was in a minor car accident about six weeks and didn’t suffer any major injuries, although I bumped my head slightly. I felt fine afterward and didn’t even need to go to the hospital. But now, weeks later, I’m getting headaches. Could they be a delayed reaction to the bump to the head?

Dr. Hibberd's answer:
Post-traumatic headache (PTH) is the most common symptom following mild head injury. These headaches are often very difficult to manage because of the problems in evaluating and treating a subjective symptom, the unclear clinical picture, and minimal evidence of organic abnormality.
Studies suggest that most head injuries are rated as “mild” and a wide range of about 30 to 80 percent will develop PTH. Surprisingly, many of the symptoms following head injury are associated with mild rather than severe head injuries. In many cases, the incidence of headache is highest in those without loss of consciousness or posttraumatic amnesia.
Sometimes MRI pictures of the brain show evidence of nerve injury as a result of forces sustained by minor bumps in the head, especially among persons in auto accidents.