Of everywhere we serve, Bridgeton is the shortest trip. The office sits just east of it on Woodson Rd, inside the same airport and I-70 corridor — which is also where a good share of the collisions that send us patients happen.
Why speed matters more than people are told
The usual advice after a head injury with a normal scan is to rest and see how it goes. For most people that is fine. The cost lands on the minority for whom it is not, because the weeks spent waiting become a documented gap in care, and a gap gets read as evidence that nothing much happened.
Being evaluated early does two things at once: it puts a real examination on the record close to the injury, and it catches the vestibular and oculomotor problems that respond well to treatment and badly to being ignored.
After a crash, specifically
- You do not need to have hit your head on anything — forces transmitted through the body are enough, which is why whiplash mechanisms produce concussions
- You do not need to have blacked out; that is the exception, not the rule
- A normal CT in the emergency department is a test for bleeding, not for concussion
- Symptoms that start a day or two later still count
See concussion without loss of consciousness for what the evidence actually shows.
Workplace head injuries
The corridor around Bridgeton is warehousing, freight and airport operations, and a fall or a struck-by injury at work raises the same documentation problem as a crash, with an employer’s carrier attached to it. The examination is the same; the reporting has to be cleaner. See building the record.
Common questions
What is the 4-hour rule for concussion?
It refers to the observation window some protocols apply after a head injury, watching for deterioration that would indicate bleeding rather than concussion. It is a safety screen, not a diagnostic test — surviving four hours without deterioration does not mean no concussion occurred.
How soon after a car accident should I be seen for a head injury?
As soon as you notice something is wrong. Emergency evaluation is for danger signs; a concussion assessment is a separate step, and there is no benefit to delaying it. Waiting mainly creates a gap that is difficult to explain later.
What if the emergency room already told me I was fine?
They told you that you were not bleeding into your skull, which is the question they were asking and an important one. It is not the same as ruling out a concussion. See diagnosis and testing.
Getting here from Bridgeton
Concussion Center
4477 Woodson Rd, Suite 105, St. Louis, MO 63134
(314) 887-5866
Monday–Friday, 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Bridgeton adjoins the office to the west — for most Bridgeton addresses this is a short drive east on St. Charles Rock Rd or Natural Bridge.