Concussion: What it is, Symptoms, Causes, and Treatments

You may hear it often that athletes often get severe head injuries during their practices, which are known as concussions. These common injuries have long-term effects that can become a hurdle in resuming the physical or other activities. Most people who get concussions receive an injury in a short time but they have to stop their physical activities for a certain duration as their healthcare provider suggests.

Overview

Concussions are severe head injuries that make your brain moving and twisting inside your skull. These are categorized as traumatic brain injuries. Most people experience concussions but they don’t understand them completely. That’s why these injuries couldn’t  be treated completely. Late diagnosis makes it difficult to treat the injury completely. People often misunderstand it because they aren’t life-threatening. But its effects are severe and long-lasting that usually last for weeks or months.  So always take it as a big deal and rush for treatment.

Studies show that concussions don’t cause any permanent damage to your brain but they can change the structure and function of the brain, if occurred frequently. The structural or functional change in the brain due to a traumatic injury can result in higher risk of developing severe health conditions or complications.

Are Concussions Common Injuries?

These are common injuries. Even 3 to 4 million people in the country visit the hospital with a concussion every year. However, young athletes have concussions frequently. According to an estimation survey, children around age 6 to 16 visit clinics in an emergency with concussion, more than others.

Symptoms of Concussions

Concussions are the head injuries that cause stretching and traumatic injury to the blood vessels and nerves present in the brain. They produce chemical currents in your brain that cause temporary stoppage of brain functions. After sometime, your brain starts repairing itself naturally it redirects its all energies and starts healing princess. At this point brain cells sense a message to the body to avoid physical activities and take rest. Then concussion symptoms start to disappear. In this way your brain tells you to take it easy while it’s healing. 

However, concussion symptoms can cause damage to your:

• Sleep duration and patterns.
• Physical health.
• Feelings and emotions.
• Cognitive function means your thinking and working style.

Studies show that concussions symptoms start appearing right after the injury. But some cases also have been reported where people experience symptoms after several hours and days. Concussions symptoms that appear as physical trauma, include:

• Neck pain.
• Loss of consciousness temporarily is like fainting for sometime.
• Headaches or feeling burned in the head.
• Vomiting and nausea.
• Sensitivity to sounds.
• Blurred vision.
• Balance problems.
• Dizziness.
• Photo-phobia (sensitivity to light).
• Lightheadedness.
• Tinnitus (heating a ringing in your ears).

Concussions also cause problems in your cognitive function that may disturb your skills and abilities. Common symptoms of concussions causing damage to your brain functions, include:

• Amnesia is known as short-term memory loss.
• Confusion.
• Trouble focusing or concentrating.

Your natural sleep cycle i.e. circadian rhythm is under the control of your brain. Your brain guides your body when it needs a sleep and when to wake up.Concussions often disturb this pattern of sleep and make you:

• Sleep more than usual.
• Feel fatigued or drowsy.
• Sleep less than usual.
• Having trouble falling asleep.

Although concussion is a physical traumatic injury it also affects your mental and emotional health. When it disrupts your emotional health, you may experience:

• Sadness or depression.
• Irritability.
• Anxiety or nervousness.
• Mood swings.

Concussion Symptoms in Young Babies or Children

Young babies or children cannot talk clearly,and therefore, cannot tell about the concussion symptoms but they often experience such symptoms. It is hard to know what they feel or experience as concussion symptoms because they can’t communicate. They can tell you what happened and what is happening. Therefore, the above mentioned symptoms may be experienced by the kids. Studies suggested some symptoms that can help you evaluate if your child is suffering from concussion symptoms. The symptoms include:

• Sudden changes in their sleep pattern. For example, sleep latency or falling asleep hardly or waking up early.
• Crying or fussing ,more than usual.
• Being cranky or irritable, even after taking a good sleep and diet.
• A blank stare.

Causes of Concussions

Whenever your body is shaken or jolted by something, concussion occurs. The force of jerk is sometimes strong enough that your brain moves back and forth or side to side for a moment. This movement damages your brain structurally and functionally.

According to studies, the brain tissues are delicate and surrounded by a fluid known as cerebrospinal fluid that acts like a cushion between your brain and skull. You can understand with an example.

When you smack the glass bowl of gelatin hard, the energy passes through the glass into the gelatin and makes it jiggle. The same way energy from your skull transfers to your brain and shakes it hard. The sting force hits your neck, head and skull that make your brain wiggle. This hit damages the blood vessels and nerves in your brain. 

The common causes of concussions include:

• Sports injuries.
• Bike accidents.
• Falls.
• Fights or assaults.
• Motor vehicle accidents.

This means concussions can affect anyone but certain types of people have high risk of concussions, including:

• Anyone who had a concussion in the past.
• People with age more than 60 or less than 3.
• Teens and adolescents.
• Athletes playing physical contact sports.
• People with physically demanding jobs like construction or carpentry.

From all of these the most risky group is teams because they get more concussions. Experts suggest that this happens because the brain and body are still developing as teenagers. In addition, at teen age the brain body’s coordination is not strong enough.

Complications associated with Concussions

Concussions happening repeatedly cause some serious complications, such as:

Post-Concussion Syndrome: PCS happens when concussion symptoms last for longer than usual. It takes longer to heal those symptoms. In this condition, you may experience symptoms for more than a year or longer after the actual injury.

complications other than PCS are less common but include:

• Skull fractures.
• Bleeding inside your brain or skull.
• Cerebral edema (swelling in your brain).
• Movement brain off-center inside your skull (midline shift).

The occurrence of one concussion is often followed by many. They become more dangerous when that affects your physical activities or sports. In medical language, it is called second-impact syndrome (SIS). SIS leads to severe bleeding and swelling in the brain that can be fatal. Recurring concussions or frequent head injuries often increase the risk of chronic traumatic encephalopathy. This condition affects the way your brain works or communicates with other body parts. However, concussions when occur repeatedly, they also lead to:

• Memory loss.
• Dementia.
• Depression or anxiety.

Diagnosis of Concussion

Concussion is a serious mental and physical heat condition which can be diagnosed only by an expert certified healthcare professional. Therefore, it is necessary to visit a healthcare provider right after you have a head injury. Your healthcare provider will diagnose a concussion by a physical exam or neurological exam.

During a meal they will check your:

• Hearing.
• Strength.
• Neck or neck muscles.
• Coordination, relaxation or balance.
• Certain neurological functions.
• The eye relaxes including vision and response to light.

They may check your cognitive function by asking you to solve certain puzzles or tests. They use this technique to check your:

• Ability to focus and concentrate.
• Problem-solving skills.
• Memory.

The tests may be oral or written. If you feel any part of the test difficulty, tell your order. Because making your rain pressurized will harm it badly. You can understand your body and mind better than anyone else. Therefore, it is only you who can point out any difficulty in balance, focus or concentration unusual than normal.

Sometimes, providers also recommend some imaging tests, including CT scan or MRI to look at any complication in your brain after amusing things like bleeding or damage to the structure of the brain.

Treatment and Management

Concussion treatment needs a complete rest. Rest is the basic eye when making a plan to treat your concussion symptoms. This is because your body and brain both need to heal. Your providers will tell you to take a break from all physical activities. They former forbid you to take oar in any sports or physical activity that can cause concussion episodes. Therefore, people often take rest for a few days or weeks. They do no activity to get well soon. However, it’s obvious from studying different cases of concussion that every one’s needs are different from clothes. That’s why you need medical help.Your provider will recommend to you how much time you need to receive from the injury. They may also guide you when and how you would start or resume your physical activities. 

Second important thing for your treatment is identifying the triggers that bring concussion symptoms. 

In addition, adding back your activities to your routine slowly and softly can also help you recover soon. Once you get the record fully, you can resume all your activities as you did before. But if you feel the symptoms again, get ready to take another break from daily chores. Listen to your body. Never push it to do things that can make the symptoms worse. Pace yourself and take time to heal completely. Identify the activity that had triggered the concussion symptoms. Limiting or leaving such activities can help you receiver soon.

Things to Avoid after a Concussion

Too much concentrating activities can trigger the concussion symptoms. After a concussion, the first seven to ten days are most important. You should avoid doing any activity that can put pressure on your brain. You need to avoid:

• Watching T.V.
• Exercise or physical activity.
• Using your phone.
• Working.
• Studying.
• Playing video games.
• Reading.

Taking some time off from work or staying at home for a few days can help improve your condition. Your body and mind take less time to receive from concussion but you should talk to your provider before resuming the normal physical activities. Sometimes, you may need to avoid:

• Drinking alcohol.
• Driving.
• Doing household tasks like meaning or washing.
• Traveling through public transport.

Can You Take Medications with a Concussion?

Any over-the-counter medication can worsen your concussion symptoms. Using any pain killer without the prescription from a certified provider will cause serious complications. Therefore, it is recommended to take the medications after talking to your healthcare provider. The pain killer drugs make your blood thin, which can be life-threatening if your brain starts bleeding.

You can use medications which your provider had recommended. You can’t take NSAIDs like ibuprofen. However, taking acetaminophen is safe.

Prevention for Concussion

Concussions are unexpected head injuries. Therefore, you are not ready for them and can’t prevent them. However, some general safety tips can help you avoid certain injuries and reduce the risk of concussion risk:

• Always wear your seat-belt while travelling via vehicle.
• Use proper tools to reach things.
• Avoid standing in chairs or tables to reach things.
• Wear the right equipment for sports or other job activities.
• Keep your home and work place free from clutter to avoid slipping.

Conclusion

Your body and brain are your unique properties that are totally different from others.concussions affect everyone’s brain and body in different ways. Similarly, the recovery process is also not sane for all. You may have a different time or system for recovery from others. Be patient with yourself and take rest after a concussion. It will save you from more complications and damage. 

Always give complete information about your symptoms to your provider. For that they may recommend the most effective way to recover. 

No doubt, brain injury makes you scared and you would not be able to think about its healing, especially when it comes to your child. But it’s a fact that in most cases people recover soon after a concussion. However, its effects are long-term and sometimes certain complications make the healing a time taking procedure. Your brain needs a certain time to heal and it can do it by itself. You just need to be patient and calm during the recovery time.