Concussion

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The most common causes of concussion are falls (especially from a height), road traffic accidents and accidents during sports such as rugby, football, boxing and cycling. Amanda's Fall depicts an event common in schools today. Young Amanda gets a concussion after falling and hitting her head during recess. While she can hear people talking, she cannot respond. Amanda is taken to a doctor for evaluation. Wisely, her parents ask for a prognosis, which in Amanda’s case, is a good one. Author Kelly Darmofal offers readers her third book on TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury), encouraging parents and caretakers to alert schools and, hopefully, doctors when any child is concussed; side effects can then be ameliorated. Diagnosis of a concussion remains an exclusively clinical diagnosis based on history and exam findings. However, there is no single pathognomonicfinding or a minimum number of symptoms for diagnosing a concussion.Severalstandardized diagnostic tools can be employed in the pre-hospital setting following an acute head injury to assist in determiningthe presence ofa concussion. The Sideline Concussion Assessment Tool 5 (SCAT5) isone of the most commonly usedtools for a concussion assessment, particularly by athletic trainers and sports medicine providers to assess athletes on the sideline after a potential head injury. The Child SCAT-5 exists for the assessment of patients between 5 and 12 years of age. [10] The optimal setting for administering these tools is a quiet setting with minimization of surroundingdistractions. [6]Monitoring for the development of symptoms or any signs of neurologic deteriorationafterthe initial post-injury assessmentis necessary because of the potentially delayed presentation of symptoms andobjective findings. [11]Signs and symptoms including severe headaches, seizures, focal neurologic deficits, loss of consciousness, deterioration of mental status, and worsening symptoms may indicate a more serious head injury and should prompt referral to an emergency department for further evaluation. [2] After 25 years of caring for children, first as a nurse, then as a pediatrician, Carolyn Roy-Bornstein finds herself on the other side of the stretcher when her 17-year-old son, Neil, is hit by a teenage drunk driver while walking his girlfriend, Trista, home after a study date. Trista did not survive her injuries. Neil carries his with him to this day.

Giza CC, et al. Summary of evidence-based guideline update: Evaluation and management of concussion in sports: Report of the Guideline Development Subcommittee of the American Academy of Neurology. Neurology. 2013; doi: 10.1212/WNL.0b013e31828d57dd. Omalu was new to America, chasing the dream, a deeply spiritual man escaping the wounds of civil war in Nigeria. The body on the slab in front of him belonged to a fifty-year-old named Mike Webster, aka “Iron Mike,” a Hall of Fame center for the Pittsburgh Steelers, one of the greatest ever to play the game. After retiring in 1990, Webster had suffered a dizzyingly steep decline. Toward the end of his life, he was living out of his van, tasering himself to relieve his chronic pain, and fixing his rotting teeth with Super Glue. How did this happen?, Omalu asked himself. How did a young man like Mike Webster end up like this?

Complications

The human brain is one key item in our body that is vital to our behavior and survival. Thinking of the phrase "out of sight, out of mind," our brain is covered by our skull and doesn't get as much sympathy from anyone as it should when it gets bumped or hurt. Dr. Kabran Chapek, a doctor for the Amen Clinics who specializes in traumatic brain injuries, has written "Concussion Rescue" for people such as parents, teachers, and coaches to gain more knowledge when it comes to brain injuries. To show that this is a real problem, Dr. Chapek gives many examples throughout the chapters of real people who took a fall, didn't think anything of it, and then either died shortly after or began experiencing neurological symptoms.

Concussion is commonly caused by falls, road crashes, assaults and sports accidents. While most mild head injuries result in no long-term damage to the brain, it can cause temporary disruption to brain function that can last for at least a number of weeks. If your child doesn't have signs of a serious head injury, remains alert, moves normally and responds to you, the injury is probably mild and usually doesn't need further testing. There is no specific treatment of post-concussion syndrome that seems to speed up recovery. Any treatment that is given is aimed at relieving specific symptoms. It is important to remember that no two brain injuries are ever the same and experiences will vary from person to person depending on things such as the force of the impact, location of injury and personal differences. Whereas one person may recover from concussion after a week, others may have ongoing difficulties. Concussion management guidelines for sports suggest the minimal time for how long a player should rest after concussion, but it is important to assess each case differently and follow what your own body is telling you about how you feel. “I hit my head when I got concussion. Surely that doesn’t mean I have brain injury?” An inspiring, interactive book and workbook to help brain injury survivors and caregivers navigate grief and loss, find their strengths and move forward with a changed life.An astonishing new science called "neuroplasticity" is overthrowing the centuries-old notion that the human brain is immutable. In this revolutionary look at the brain, psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Norman Doidge, MD, provides an introduction to both the brilliant scientists championing neuroplasticity and the people whose lives they've transformed. From stroke patients learning to speak again to the remarkable case of a woman born with half a brain that rewired itself to work as a whole, The Brain That Changes Itself will permanently alter the way we look at our brains, human nature, and human potential. Head trauma is very common in young children. But concussions can be difficult to recognize in infants and toddlers because they can't describe how they feel. Concussion clues may include: Now we know and we're talking to specialists, we understand what the symptoms are and we're working round that," he added.