It was once thought that the effects of concussion, (mild traumatic brain injury) were temporary. Doctors assumed patients could recover from the effects of concussion after a few minutes or hours.

However a famous research study published in Neurology, the Journal of the American Academy of Neurologists, found that after one year 10% to 15% of mild traumatic brain injury patients still had not fully recovered. In fact, the study determined that many patients had more symptoms than immediately after the accident.

Modern medical research has found that mild traumatic brain injury can result in deficits (problems) in the speed of information processing, attention, and short term memory.

Recovery from these deficits can take several weeks or months and a small percentage of patients may never fully recover.