Clayton is the seat of St. Louis County. Its courts and its concentration of personal injury practices mean a large share of the concussion questions that reach us from Clayton arrive attached to a file — and a file changes what an evaluation has to do.
When the record will be contested
An ordinary clinical note is written for the next clinician. A note in a contested injury matter is read by someone whose job is to find its weakest sentence. Those are different documents, and the difference is not padding — it is specificity about what was tested, what was found, and what the reasoning was.
The two arguments we see most often from Clayton files are that there was no loss of consciousness, and that imaging was normal. Both are answerable, and neither is answered by assertion. See building the record.
What we document
- Mechanism, in the patient’s own account, taken close to the injury where possible
- Objective vestibular and oculomotor findings that do not rely on self-report
- Structured symptom instruments repeated across visits, so the trajectory is data
- Function before and after — work, school, driving, screen tolerance
- A stated causation opinion with its reasoning written out
We do not give legal advice and we do not forecast outcomes. We produce a clinical assessment that holds up when read closely.
Life care planning
Where impairment looks durable, the clinical assessment becomes the foundation a life care planner costs out. A plan built on a thin record is easy to attack no matter how carefully the arithmetic is done. See life care planning.
Common questions
Can a brain MRI detect a concussion?
Usually not. Routine MRI and CT look for bleeding, fracture and structural lesions. A concussion is a functional and microstructural injury, and standard imaging is typically normal — which is why a normal scan is not evidence that nothing happened. See diagnosis and testing.
What are the later signs of a concussion?
Symptoms that appear or worsen over the following days are common: headache, sensitivity to light or noise, trouble concentrating, disrupted sleep, irritability and dizziness. Difficulty concentrating, light sensitivity and insomnia are among the features associated with a longer recovery. See long-term effects.
Do I need a lawyer before being evaluated?
No. We evaluate patients whether or not a claim exists, and whether or not anyone has been retained. Being seen early is what protects the record; waiting to sort out representation first is what creates the gap that gets argued about later.
Getting here from Clayton
Concussion Center
4477 Woodson Rd, Suite 105, St. Louis, MO 63134
(314) 887-5866
Monday–Friday, 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Clayton sits southeast of the office; most patients come out Hanley or take I-170 north to the Woodson Rd exit.