A head injury is any trauma that injures the scalp, skull, or brain. The injury may be only a minor bump on the skull or a serious brain injury.
Head injury can be either closed or open (penetrating).
Head injuries include:
Head injuries may cause bleeding:
Common causes of head injury include:
Most of these injuries are minor because the skull protects the brain. However, some injuries are severe enough to require a stay in the hospital.
The symptoms of a head injury can occur right away, or develop slowly over several hours or days. Even if the skull is not fractured, the brain can bang against the inside of the skull and be bruised. The head may look fine, but problems could result from bleeding or swelling inside the skull.
In any serious head trauma, the spinal cord is also likely to be injured.
Some head injuries cause changes in brain function. This is called a traumatic brain injury. Concussion is a mild traumatic brain injury. Symptoms of a concussion can range from mild to severe.
Learning to recognize a serious head injury and give basic first aid can save someone's life.
Get medical help right away if the person:
For a moderate to severe head injury, take the following steps:
For a mild head injury, no treatment may be needed. However, the symptoms of a serious head injury can show up later. As a result:
Call 911 if:
Although you cannot prevent injuries entirely, parents can take some simple steps to keep their children from getting head injuries.
To prevent head injuries in adults:
Brain injury; Head trauma
Biros MH, Heegaard WG. Head injury. In: Marx JA, Hockberger RS, Walls RM, et al., eds. Rosen's Emergency Medicine: Concepts and Clinical Practice. 7th ed. St. Louis, Mo: Mosby; 2009:chap 38.
Atabaki SM. Pediatric head injury. Pediatr Rev. 2007;28:215-224.
Updated by: Jacob L. Heller, MD, MHA, Emergency Medicine, Virginia Mason Medical Center, Seattle, Washington. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.
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