Brain concussions are one of the dreaded types of brain injury among physicians. These can occur subconsciously, and most brain concussions can go untreated; resulting in prolonged damage to the person’s brain.
A common misconception among people is that concussions only occur when the skull gets damaged. However, that’s not always the case. Concussions can occur during sports even when the player do not acquire head injury, and there are many cases in which the people do not even know if they have brain concussions!
So, What Are Brain Concussions?
Concussions are the most common type of brain injury, and occurs when the brain hits hard against the walls of the skull due to sudden movements of the head. Although this might not result in the skull breaking, but the brain suffers internal damage. Professional athletes are faced with concussions most often mainly due to prolonged sports activities.
Concussions may cause the brain to lose functionality temporarily. However, repeated concussions might eventually result in permanent damage to the brain. This is why identifying the concussion symptoms is very important for better treatment of patients.
Common Causes Of Concussions
Sport concussions are the most common brain concussions, and these occur to most athletes playing football, soccer, basketball and some other engaging sports. It is estimated that more than 3.8 million people suffer from concussions per year in USA alone, and more than 50% of the concussion symptoms go unreported.
Injuries to the head, repeated movements and collisions during sports are the leading reasons to such concussions. So, particularly in which activities can you acquire such brain concussions? Let’s find out!
Soccer
Most sports concussions occur to professional soccer players. Players colliding with each other, head shots and head hitting the ground can be prime reasons for such concussions. Research states that shooting the ball with the head causes the most damage. A study published in the Journal Frontiers in Neurology stated that players who shot the ball with their heads performed worse on attention and reaction time tests than those who headed the ball less often.
Other than that, an increase in the popularity of professional soccer caused a significant rise in the number of collisions in the sport in the past couple of years. This led to an uprise in the number of concussion cases relating to soccer, eventually surpassing basketball to be the leading cause of concussions worldwide.
Cycling
Cycling is another major contributor to brain concussions. Each year more than 100,000 people suffers from serious head injuries which leads to emergency rooms visits. For most cases, professional cyclists, mountain bikers and alleyway racers are the most prone to such injuries. During such injuries, mostly the crashes result in secondary injuries - broken bone or a severe laceration which results little or no attention to the brain concussion. This is why most brain concussions may go untreated
Bumpy and uneven roads can also increase the chances of acquiring a concussion.
Water Sports
Concussions resulting from water sports are underrated. We don’t often acknowledge the impact water sports can have on our brains. The pressure of sports underwater and fast-moving activities such as water polo, swimming, wakeboarding, water skiing and water tubing can be lethal to the conditions of our brain.
Treatment Of Concussion
Concussions can have a serious impact on your brain - temporary loss of brain functionality which leads to cognitive, physical and emotional symptoms such as confusion, headaches, vomiting, nausea, disturbed sleep, depression, moodiness and amnesia. Whenever you notice signs of a concussion, you must opt in for concussion treatment and seek immediate medical attention.
Medication
Severe head injuries can lead to seizures that can last for weeks. This is why doctors often prescribe anti-seizure medicines to let away the chances of seizures.
Concussions can lead to pressure buildup in the cranial cavity, which is why the doctors might prescribe you diuretics that helps alleviate the pain. During this time, you must avoid any pain reliever medications such as aspirin or ibuprofen.
Other than that, most concussions can be alleviated through rehabilitation.
Rehabilitation
Rehabilitation has been proven as excellent treatment for patients suffering from brain concussions. Proper rehabilitation may help regain full brain functionality, and enhance its efficiency by time.
Taking a simple break to rest and trying to avoid stress for a couple of weeks can be essential for the brain to heal. During this time, the patient must also avoid any types of sport or sport related activities and observe very little to no work.
Other than resting periods, rehabilitation programmes can also help the patient to guide through to a normal life. This is highly needed during serious brain concussion treatments. Firms like Sport Outreach helps patients to regain their brain’s full functionality after head injury through rehabilitation programmes.
Such programmes have shown excellent results over the last century, and are trusted by most physiotherapists all over the world.
Conclusion
Brain concussions are the most common type of head injury, and these contribute to lower brain functionality among millions of people all over the world. This underrated brain injury is caused when the brain brushes against the walls of the skull, causing the brain cells to get damaged.
Concussions occur mostly when there are injuries to the head, repeated movements and collisions during sports. Soccer, Cycling and Water Sports contribute to the most concussions cases.
Whenever a person observes concussion symptoms, he/she must seek immediate medical attention. To treat the concussion, one might take medication or go into a rehabilitation period where the person takes enough rest out of stress, or seeks for a more organized rehabilitation programme.