Skull Wall

Signs of a Concussion

If your child has any signs or symptoms, keep them out of high-level physical activities (including sports) to let their brain reorganize itself - no matter how much they object. Their brain is worth fighting for.Other symptoms and signs of concussions in children are more readily recognizable. Any sign of vomiting, sudden fatigue, or amnesia indicates that the child has had a traumatic head injury and should be taken to the hospital room for an examination.

Even after the signs and symptoms of a concussion fade, the damage itself may not be healed. Using tissue taken posthumously from pro football players, researchers and doctors have been able to view the damage done by concussions. Rather than appearing the same as a normal brain, people who suffered from multiple concussions have large amounts of brown tangles scattered throughout the brain tissue. These brown tangles are similar to the appearance of brain tissue from people with Alzheimer's disease or dementia.

At the very least, don't push your child into sports and potentially head-harming physical activity until a reasonable recuperation period has passed. Take the time to rest your child's injured head even if they insist they feel better, and learn to recognize the signs and symptoms. The head and the brain are tough, and kids are tougher, but resting their heads now will keep them tough against a more damaging concussion in the future.

Children are always on the move. If adults moved as much as children, we'd likely have just as many head injuries as well. Looking for and knowing the signs and symptoms of concussions in children can prepare you to discern a mild bump from that which warrants ER care, pediatrician follow up, and monitoring for post-concussion syndrome. Make sure you watch your child's balance and their reaction to light. See if there is an abnormal pause in their reactions, a sudden headache, numbness anywhere in their body, or an unexplainable sudden fatigue.

Headaches may get worse on exertion. In this case, athletes may feel okay on the sideline, but headache symptoms develop once they are on the field. In a mild concussion symptoms can often resolve within 15 minutes. This makes early detection and screening critical in concussion management. It is not uncommon for symptoms such as headache to appear later in the day after a head impact injury.

A concussion is a traumatic injury to the brain caused by a blow to the head. In snowboarding, this can easily happen by a collision with a skier or another snowboarder, a fall to the ground, or an impact with a tree. Signs of a concussion include feeling dizzy or disoriented, having an urge to throw up, or experiencing blurred vision. If you have any of these symptoms after a collision, you should seek immediate medical help.

Sports and games are important activities for students and youths. Unfortunately, many student-athletes sustain concussions as a result of falls, collisions or physical contact during sports such as football, basketball, hockey, gymnastics, field hockey and even cheerleading. A concussion is not just a bump on the head. It is a mild traumatic brain injury that immediately and temporarily disrupts the normal functioning of the brain.

The cognitive problems potentially associated with mild brain injury or concussion include memory problems, poor concentration and attention, irritability, anger and proneness to stress, being self-centered, dependency and lack of insight, poor problem solving and impulsivity. These problems can also include fatigue, lack of initiative and motivation, inappropriate behavior and poor social skills.

One only has to remember the tragic stories of Andre Waters and Mike Webster to recall how severe post concussion symptoms can be. Waters committed suicide due largely to the symptoms he suffered as a result of multiple concussions during his NFL career. Webster, who is in the pro football Hall of Fame, and played on 4 winning Super Bowl teams died homeless. jobless and penniless after living out of his car.

Many people believe that a concussion is a state of unconsciousness. This is not true. Nor is it an injury to the head. A concussion can be a result of injuring the head and it can result in loss of consciousness, but it is more than that. A concussion is the impairment or decrease in mental functions as a result of the brain banging against the skull wall, usually caused by a head injury and sometimes followed with unconsciousness.

Following a Concussion, a wide variety of cognitive (thinking abilities), physical, and psychological symptoms occur, typically in stages. The symptoms may not develop until days or even weeks after the injury. Few patients will experience all of the symptoms, but even one or two can be unpleasant. Some patients find that at first, PCS makes it hard to work, attend classes, get along at home, or reach short-term goals. Most patients with PCS don't develop symptoms until days or even weeks after the accident, but the syndrome can begin sooner.

Fortunately, there are very few fatalities from concussions, although it is important to have a doctor examine you if it is a serious concussion, or if you still feel uneasy after a few weeks. The standard treatment for concussions is plenty of rest and plenty of monitoring of the injury. To be on the safe side, you should see a doctor.

According to traumatic brain injury books those with recent concussions are more than 3x more likely to commit suicide than a similar person in the general population. Concussions have been linked to clinical depression which eventually leads the person to attempt killing themselves. The highest risk group among those with concussions for suicide is in the 22-59 age group. But the traumatic brain injury in children can be a problem too and shouldn't be ignored.

Though this is a step in the right direction in regards to traumatic brain injuries, the ruling only applies to game-play situations. As is the case with almost all sports seasons, the majority of a high-school athlete's time spent playing is not game time, but practice time. In fact, a typical three hour high school football game might be about one fifth of the time each player spent preparing for that game.

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