According to the Centers for Disease Control, about 18 percent of all emergency hospital visits relating to traumatic brain injuries involved children aged 0 to 4 years. Brain injury is the most frequent cause of death and disability among children in the United States. Nearly 1 million children suffer brain injuries each year and about 165,000 require hospitalization.

Traumatic brain injuries occur as a result of a sudden, violent blow to the head. Child brain injuries, are extremely common in Massachusetts and the rest of the United States. Regardless of how they are caused, the effects of brain injuries can be permanent and lead to a lifetime of special needs, medical care and continuing rehabilitation.

Among teenagers, the most common cause of brain injury is auto accidents. Among younger children, especially those under 4 years of age, falls are the most common cause for traumatic brain injuries. Sports-related injuries, where children are hit by a bat or ball or football-related head injuries can also result in brain damage. Adolescents and young adults are also at risk for assault-related brain injuries including those caused by a firearm. Child brain injuries can also be birth injuries that result from medical negligence during labor and delivery. (more…)

The reality is that traumatic brain injuries can lead to brain damage. If a person suffers a serious brain injury, the resulting concussion can show physical, emotional, and cognitive symptoms that could possibly last, off-and-on, for 30 years or longer. Repeated concussions put the individual in a very serious, dangerous state.

Being aware of short and long-term symptoms of concussions can help people make smart life decisions after suffering an injury or in order to avoid injury. Here are some guidelines to short-term concussion-related symptoms: (more…)

Head trauma can be common among children, as they tend to fall often. Yet, some of these accidents lead to very serious injuries. There are actions you can take to help your injured child if it be a bump or a bruise on the head or a possibly fatal injury.

Steps to Follow to Deal with Brain Injury

It is recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics that parents contact their child’s heath care provider for assistance with any injury more severe than a light bump on the head.

If your child shows any of the following symptoms, they should be seen by a healthcare provider as soon as possible: (more…)

Head injuries can occur in a variety of ways. Falls, crashes, bicycle or car accidents, and sport-related injuries are some of the events that could leave a victim with a minor or severe brain injury. Head injuries also manifest as anything as small as a bump to severe injuries like contusions, hematoma, intracranial hemorrhages, or edema. The first step to dealing with these different kinds of injuries, is to know the wide-range of symptoms to look for.

Here are some steps you can follow to begin treating a head injury:

- First, check to see if the heady injury is open. If the injury has resulted in the skull being broken open, you must call 911 immediately. A closed brain injury may also be very severe, but further inquiry is needed to determine if it is an emergency. If you are in doubt about how serious the head injury is, call 911. If the head injury has resulted in bleeding, hold a cloth firmly to the wound and stay that way. It is important to keep the cloth over even excessive bleeding. It may be hard to know what has happened, but try to dress the wound appropriately. If the skull has been fractured, do not put pressure on the head. If there is an object extending from the skull, do not try to remove it. Allow emergency personnel to deal with the injury. (more…)

The Journal of Athletic Training released a study recently that suggests differences between the ways boys and girls show concussion symptoms. The study highlights the need for health care professionals, clinicians, athletic trainers, parents, and coaches to be aware of nontraditional symptoms that may be signs of brain injury.

What to Look For

Athletes of both sexes reported headaches more than 95% of the time during or after a traumatic brain injury, making headaches the most obvious primary symptom. Secondary symptoms, however, are harder to decipher as they differ between boys and girls, and person to person. In many cases, boys have reported confusion, disorientation, and amnesia after a head injury, whereas girls reported drowsiness and sensitivity to noise. (more…)

Considering the way children play, it’s no wonder more of them aren’t suffering from some kind of brain injury. Thankfully, many of us have escaped relatively unharmed to live happy and fulfilling lives, but some are not so lucky. It is not unusual for symptoms to go unnoticed, which can leave a child with more severe and permanent damage.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that parents contact their child’s healthcare provider for advice for anything more than a light bump on the head. This vague and somewhat useless bit of advice is hard to follow when you have a toddler running into coffee tables every 5 minutes. So when do you need to follow your parental instinct to rush your child to the hospital? When they exude the following brain trauma symptoms: (more…)

For years physicians have been suspicious that males and females react differently to a brain injury. The report, which will appear in the January issue of the Journal of Athletic Training, will show that female athletes who suffer concussions often exhibit symptoms that are not consistent with those previously believed to be symptoms of concussions. This is especially worrisome due to the fact that the symptoms that were recorded can be more easily missed during sideline evaluations — or incorrectly attributed to other conditions.

Expert Analysis

R. Dawn Comstock, PhD, a professor at Ohio State University and co-author of the study, stated that because male and female athletes may experience different types of brain damage symptoms and present differently to health care professionals, parents, and coaches, we all need to be aware of higher rates of nontraditional symptoms of concussions and take an extra cautious approach. (more…)

Unbeknownst to some, a concussion can be the most harmful type of brain damage. It seems as though every time I turn on the sports channel I witness a concussion, somewhat down-playing the detrimental affect these hard blows are having on all of the players who suffer them. Recent research suggests that the effects of even one concussion may linger for 30 years or longer in a person’s life as well as implicates that multiple concussions combine to make a further life-threatening circumstance.

A concussion is the most common type of brain damage with over 300,000 sport-related concussions occurring annually in the United States, according to the Department of Neurological Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh. Frequently defined as a head injury with a temporary loss of brain function, concussion can cause a variety of physical, cognitive, and emotional symptoms. (more…)

Fearing that your child is going to suffer a severe brain injury is common amongst parents, and for good reason. Kids are constantly validating their care-free attitude towards their well-being with maneuvers such as trying to slide down the stairs, or jumping off a roof into a pool. It’s obvious that you can’t protect your kids from everything, because in many cases you do not have any control. Thankfully, this is not always the case.

Sometimes the simplest adjustments can make the biggest difference, and such is the case with preventing head trauma. Spending a little extra time to make sure an area is safe, or simply informing your children so that they may be able to make safe decisions, could save a family from a tragic accident. Here are some simple tips parents can take to help prevent their children from suffering debilitating head injuries. (more…)

As every parent knows, trying to keep your kids safe from a brain injury is like trying to lose fifty pounds; it’s possible, but your lack of control is seriously hindering. Since kids seem to hit their heads ten times a day, it would be impossible to protect them from every threat that comes their way. Fortunately, there are some very simple steps, which are within your power, which may prevent serious and life-changing injuries. With a healthy combination of caution and common sense, you can feel secure that you are doing what you can to protect yourself and your kids. (more…)