Head Injury
Head injury can be either closed or open (penetrating). A head injury is any sort of injury to your brain, skull, or scalp. This may range from a mild bump to a traumatic brain injury. Consequences and treatments vary greatly, depending on what caused your head injury and how severe it is.
Head injuries may be either closed or open. A closed head injury is any injury that doesn’t break your skull. An open (penetrating) head injury is one in which something breaks your scalp and skull and enters your brain.
What causes a head injury?
In general, head injuries can be divided into two categories based on what causes them. They can either be head injuries due to blows to the head or head injuries due to shaking.
Head injuries caused by shaking are most common in infants and small children, but they can occur any time you experience violent shaking.
Head injuries caused by a blow to the head are usually associated with:
- Motor vehicle accidents
- Falls
- Falls
- Physical assaults
- Sports-related accidents
In most cases, your skull will protect your brain from serious harm. However, injuries severe enough to cause head injury can also be associated with injuries to the spine.
Head injuries include:
- A closed head injury means you received a hard blow to the head from striking an object, but the object did not penetrate the skull.
- An open, or penetrating, head injury means you were hit with an object that broke the skull and entered the brain. This is more likely to happen when you move at a high speed, such as going through the windshield during a car accident. It can also happen from a gunshot to the head.
- Concussion, most often in which the brain has been shaken, is the most common type of traumatic brain injury.
- Scalp wounds.
- Skull fractures.
Head injuries may cause bleeding:
- In the brain tissue
- In the layers that surround the brain (subarachnoid hemorrhage, subdural hematoma, epidural hematoma)
What are the major types of head injuries?
Hematoma
A hematoma is a collection, or clotting, of blood outside the blood vessels. It can be very serious if a hematoma occurs in the brain. The clotting can lead to pressure building up inside your skull. This can cause you to lose consciousness or result in permanent brain damage.
Hemorrhage
A hemorrhage is uncontrolled bleeding. There can be bleeding in the space around your brain, called subarachnoid hemorrhage, or bleeding within your brain tissue, called intracerebral hemorrhage.
Subarachnoid hemorrhages often cause headaches and vomiting. The severity of intracerebral hemorrhages depends on how much bleeding there is, but over time any amount of blood can cause pressure buildup.
Skull fracture
The skull consists of 22 bones that come together via cranial sutures. The skull hardens and fuses through development to protect the brain. A skull fracture is any break in the cranial bones. There are many types of skull fractures, but only one major cause: an impact or a blow to the head that’s strong enough to break the bone. An injury to the brain can also accompany the fracture, but that’s not always the case.
What are the symptoms of a head injury?
Your head has more blood vessels than any other part of your body, so bleeding on the surface of your brain or within your brain is a serious concern in head injuries. However, not all head injuries cause bleeding.
It’s important to be aware of other symptoms to watch out for. Many symptoms of serious brain injury won’t appear right away. You should always continue to monitor your symptoms for several days after you injure your head.
Common symptoms of a minor head injury include:
- A Headache
- Lightheadedness
- A Spinning Sensation
- Mild Confusion
- Nausea
- Temporary Ringing In The Ears
- Head Injury Brain Tumour Complex Skull Base Tumours Vascular Neurosurgery Minimally Invasive Brain Surgeries Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery (MISS) Spinal Tumours Craniovertebral Junction (CVJ) Anomaly Spine Trauma Spinal Infections and Tuberculosis Neuro Intervention Endoscopic spine and Brain surgery
