What is Concussion?

A concussion is a type of traumatic brain injury that is caused by a blow to the head or body, a fall, or another injury that jars or shakes the brain inside the skull. There are not always signs of a visible brain injury. Some people will have obvious symptoms of a concussion, such as passing out or forgetting what happened right before the injury. But other people won’t. With rest, most people fully recover from a concussion. Some people recover within a few hours. Other people take a few weeks or longer to recover.
Repeated concussions or a severe concussion can lead to long-lasting problems with movement, memory, learning, or speaking. There are many ways to get a concussion. Some common ways include fights, falls, playground injuries, car crashes, and bike accidents. Concussions can also happen while participating in any sport or activity such as football, boxing, hockey, soccer, skiing, or snowboarding. Some common symptoms of concussion are problems with cognition and memory, headache, dizziness, nausea and vomiting, sensitivity to light and sound, lethargy, fatigue, problems with emotion and mood, and change in sleep pattern.
The treatment of concussion is primarily rest. Medications to help with headache and dizziness can also be used. If concussion is related to a sports injury, it is important that the injured player be removed from participation for the rest of the day. There are certain criteria that need to be followed to decide when an injured player can return to sports activities and this should be done in a gradual and graded fashion.
Return-to-play decision making should be supervised by a neurologist or another physician experienced in the management of concussion. A very rare form of injury seen following critical concussion is malignant cerebral edema. This can occur as a significant first injury or as a reinjury from a second impact. The latter type, known as second impact syndrome (SIS), is a form of injury that happens before the previous concussion has resolved. The reinjury, often seemingly minor, can lead to devastating injury or death.
Contrary to conventional wisdom, the chronic cumulative effects of concussion can be many and serious in a subset of patients. Some patients can develop early-onset dementia from repeated concussions and this is termed Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE). This entity has received quite a bit of news coverage over the last few years.
If you would like to learn how to care for this disease or any other neurological condition, please call us at 609-463-8009 or 609-653-9595. My office is conveniently located at 4 Village Drive in Cape May Court House and 160 Shore Road in Somers Point. Please visit my website at www.stzorfas.com.
-Submitted by Dr. Scott Tzorfas