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Serious head trauma can affect a person for life. Head trauma is associated with memory loss, speech disorders and loss of coordination. Children are particularly at risk for head trauma because of the size and weight of their heads in proportion to their bodies, and because they have a greater amount of fluid in their brains which make them softer and more prone to injuries. In fact, the leading cause of death of children over the age of 1 in the U.S. is head trauma.
- assaults
- car accidents
- motorcycle accidents
- falls
- birth
- contact sports
- speed sports
- in the case of small children, shaking and other forms of abuse
Concussions are sometimes hard to diagnose. In fact, people often don’t know they’ve experienced a concussion. But they are serious. They occur because the brain has been shaken so forcefully by an impact that it bounces off the inside of the skull. They can affect your vision, memory, hearing, coordination and reflexes. And many of them are very painful. They can cause headaches, loss of consciousness, dizziness, vomiting and nausea. Other symptoms include:
- slow pulse
- slow breathing rate
- confusion
- lethargy
- dilated pupils
- memory loss
- vision changes
- difficulty speaking and swallowing
- ringing in the ears
Also, an increased amount of concussions lead to other illnesses like brain damage, postconcussion syndrome, epilepsy and neurological damage.
Skull fractures can occur during impact as well. The brain may or may not be damaged when the fracture occurs, depending upon the severity and location of the blow. The symptom may be as small as a bump on the head to as large as bleeding from the head, eyes, nose, ears and mouth.
Brain Injury can occur because of impact or because of an object penetrating the skull. Impact includes falls, assaults, blows to the head and, in the case of infants, shaken baby syndrome. Brain injury symptoms include many of the same symptoms seen with concussions, plus spinal fluid might be draining out the ears, eyes, nose or mouth. Brain injury can lead to permanent memory loss, loss of coordination, loss of control of bodily functions, and more. Shaken baby syndrome occurs when an infant is violently shaken and the brain bounces inside the skull. Blood vessels inside the head rupture and bleed. This can cause seizures, comas, lifelong disability and death. This is a criminal act and those convicted can receive the death penalty.
