by Mary Snyder

Created on: June 06, 2008

A concussion is basically an injury to the brain, usually following some type of accident, A fall, or hitting your head while doing work under the car and the like. Any type of severe blow to the head could cause a concussion beacause you are literally shakeing the brain inside the skull.

Although there is fluid around the brain to cushion it from hitting the skull, a severe hit can cause it to hit the skull and not work normally.It can cause short term problems as well as long term in some cases.

There are two types of concussion. A mild one would be, say, the person does not pass out but says they saw stars, or that they did go out, but only for a minute, That would be considered a mild concussion, The other type is called a severe concussion, and that would be a complete knock out and delayed recovery from it.

The symptoms can be lightheadedness or passing out,loss of memory,confusion, not being able to stand or walk, loss of balance,headaches, loss of interest in normal activities, sometimes followed by naesea,blurred vision and repeating ones self or changes in sleep patterns. But not everybody shows symptoms.

Concussions are pretty common with children, mostly because of their activities, sports and playgrounds. Jump houses, where they can jump around and bang into each other and of course the trampoline. All normal activities but creates an environment where they could possibly get hurt.

People think that they need to keep the person awake after a concussion,this is not necessarily true. If the person is hard to awaken after a head injury, the damage may be more severe than had been thought.

If your first choice is to apply ice to the head wound, do not place the ice directly to the skin, wrap it in a wash cloth first. You can also use a frozen bag of vegetables wrapped in a cloth.

Doctors will test things like the reflexes,vision,they may check the ears, nose and mouth. Some times, with a more serious injury, they will order a CT Scan so they might be able to see more clearly any damage that was done.

Usually within twenty four to forty eight hours after the injury, if nothing else seems wrong they will be fine. Some concussions can be accompanied by a skull fracture. Depending on what happened.

Follow up care is another important factor in the healing of a concussion as there could be some personality changes or memory loss, that can be found on a follow up visit.

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