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How to Protect Your Brain From Injury

Considering how precious our brains are to our health and well-being, we should be monitoring them as conscientiously as we do our hearts or joints. If we find out we have high cholesterol, we generally do something about it. Yet too many people let blows to the head go unevaluated, despite the potentially dire long-term consequences...

The two most common causes of traumatic brain injuries are slip-and-fall accidents, which account for more than half of all incidents, and motor-vehicle accidents. Only 3% of concussions are sports-related. And it isn’t only a blow to the head that can cause a concussion; whiplash can also cause a brain injury. These invisible injuries can have long-lasting…

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 How Worried You Should Be If You Hit Your Head, According to a Neurosurgeon

If you’re a young, healthy person and you hit your head, and you really have no other symptoms other than maybe some soreness at the site where you hit your head, I wouldn’t run to the ER. I think you’re probably somebody that’s not at a major risk for developing this. But it’s [about] varying levels of threshold. If you’re older, it’s a low threshold. If you’re on blood thinners, again, low threshold.

 I Hit My Head, How do I Know If It's Serious?

Although most head injuries are not severe and pass in a few hours, there are some serious cases where you're best off seeking emergency care. Here's how to assess the damage if you suffer a serious blow to the head.

 I Just Hit My Head Really Hard. Should I Freak Out?

In the light of Bob Saget's death, doctors explain what you should do when faced with head trauma.

Articles of Interest

Bob Saget's death shows the danger of head injuries. Here's what you should know

Overall, experts say it's better to be safe than sorry when it comes to injuries involving the head — emphasizing that in most cases patients will be all right.

Brain injuries are startlingly common among those who have committed crimes

People who sustain brain injuries are more likely to go on to commit crimes, including violent ones. They are more troublesome while in prison and more likely to reoffend on release.

Closed Head Injury

CHI can be defined as injury where the skull and dural membrane remain intact.

Cycling: head injuries ignored because of entrenched macho culture

Competitive road cycling is a demanding and unique sport. One where crashing is inevitable – especially at the professional level. While the risk of head injury is relatively low in cycling – approximately 5-13% – compared to contact sports such as rugby, the consequences of a head impact when riding at speeds of over 40 kilometre per hour can be life changing or worse. Yet too often, riders are helped back onto their bikes following a crash, without a clear examination for head injuries.

Head injuries and sport: confusion, anger and lots of difficult questions

Concussion in Sport Group’s position that causal relationship has not yet been demonstrated between chronic traumatic encephalopathy and sport concussions is controversial

Head Injury In Adults

Trauma to the head can cause several types of head and brain injuries...

Head Injury in Children: How to Know If It's Minor or Serious

Almost all children bump their heads every now and then. While these injuries can be upsetting, most head injuries are minor and do not cause serious problems. In very rare cases, problems can occur after a minor bump on the head.

Head Trauma

With head trauma you have to worry about the primary injury, from the blunt trauma itself, and about secondary injuries, from the swelling, edema, and neurotoxin release... All in all, you will be seeing a lot of blunt head trauma, much of which will require CT. Most of these patients will be safe to go home. But when they aren’t safe for home… they really aren’t safe for home.

More Sobering Findings on Head Trauma

Several new brain studies all point in the same direction: head trauma is a more serious injury than has been realized.

Science's Most Famous Head Injury

Phineas Gage blasted an iron rod through his brain. He survived, but his personality did not. A new look at brain connections explains why.

Studies Cite Head Injuries As Factor in Some Social Ills

Researchers studying brain injury believe they've found a common thread running through many cases of seemingly unrelated social problems: a long-forgotten blow to the head.

Talk and Die Syndrome: A Narrative Review

The syndrome of talk and die is noticed mainly in head trauma patients, and most of them are in their latter half of life. Careful monitoring of patients having additional risk factors is mandatory for a favorable outcome. Even when all measures are appropriately instituted, there is a possibility of late events of re-bleeding or expansion of hematoma leading to a devastating outcome.

What a lifetime of playing football can do to the human brain

Football isn’t just a contact sport — it’s a dangerous game of massive bodies colliding into one another. And while it may seem obvious that this sport can do extraordinary damage to brains and bodies, it’s taken far too long for the NFL, the medical community, and football fans to fully reckon with this.

Resources

Brain Injury Association of America

Brain injury is not an event or an outcome. It is the start of a misdiagnosed, misunderstood, under-funded neurological disease.

Brain Trauma Foundation

Since our founding in 1986, we have worked toward our vision of improving the outcomes of patients with traumatic brain injuries.

Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation

​​The Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation is a leading, peer-reviewed resource that provides up-to-date information on the clinical management and rehabilitation of persons with traumatic brain injuries.

Lecturi

The majority of cases are mild, but presentation can vary from a mild concussion to a comatose state depending on the severity of the insult

NHS

Most head injuries are not serious, but you should get medical help if you or your child have any symptoms after a head injury.