"Hidden Injuries After Trauma: Your Body, Mind & Spirit Know"
April 10, 2026·5 min
The episode opens with Laura Lee introducing the Know Your Worth series and guest Todd Bresni, a senior partner at Kanowski Bresni Law. The first topic addressed is which injuries are most frequently overlooked after accidents: whiplash, concussion symptoms, nerve damage, and disc displacement are all named, with Bresni explaining that normal activity after trauma can progressively worsen nerve impingement until surgery becomes necessary, sometimes a year after the initial event. Laura Lee then asks whether PTSD belongs in this category, which Bresni confirms. He explains that mental injuries from accidents can arise from closed head injuries such as concussions, or simply from the traumatic nature of surviving a serious event. He emphasizes that depression and anxiety appearing months after an accident may be causally linked to it and are equally valid to physical injuries. Bresni then addresses the common behavioral pattern of accident victims managing discomfort at home with over-the-counter remedies to avoid high medical bills. While he frames this as understandable, he notes that many of these people eventually require surgery and face lifelong pain. He reframes the impulse to say 'I'm fine' as a normal defense mechanism rather than a character flaw. His practical advice is to take recovery day by day, monitor symptoms like disrupted sleep and increased irritability, and seek medical evaluation if symptoms do not improve within a few days. He then introduces an adversarial dynamic: insurance companies systematically cite delayed treatment as evidence that injuries were not as serious as claimed. Bresni describes countering these arguments as a core part of his legal practice. The episode ends with contact information for Bresni at BresneyLaw.com, and a closing remark from Laura Lee that pain does not have to be visible to be valid.
