Don’t get us wrong, protecting people for open head injuries is fantastic. An open head wound can result in a skull fracture resulting in fragments entering the brain. If that doesn’t happen, draining blood and brain fluid (cerebrospinal fluid, which creates a buffer between the skull and the brain) can kill the victim within minutes.
Even though concussions are closed head injuries, they can be also be very dangerous and potentially deadly. They can result in a break in the tissue surrounding the brain known as a brain hemorrhage. This is very hard to detect up front and can trickle blood into the skull causing a build up of pressure that eventually can kill the victim.
Concussions can also cause problems with:
- Headache
- Concentration
- Memory
- Judgment
- Balance
- Coordination
These symptoms are both in adults and children, but some studies have shown that the long term effects on concussions suffered by children in car accidents can have a profound effect on their brain development in the future.
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Concussions and Children
The study, conducted by a team headed by Keith Owen Yeates, a neuropsychologist at Ohio State University’s Center for Biobehaviorial Health, was published online Monday in Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. Researchers aimed to identify which kids may be most at risk for lingering symptoms.
The study consisted of 186 subjects aged 8 to 15 who had suffered mild concussions and other mild brain injuries and had been treated hospitals in Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio. The published results were based on parents’ reports of symptoms up to 12 months after the injuries.
The researchers specifically chose brain injuries that are considered “mild” (no more than half an hour of unconsciousness). Out of the test subjects 60% of kids with concussions or other brain trauma (74 children) had no loss of consciousness.
“In most kids with these injuries, symptoms resolve within a few months but the study results suggest that problems may linger for up to about 20 percent,” said Yeates, the study’s author.
After all of the response data was tallied, researchers found that children with even relatively mild concussions can have persistent attention and memory problems a year after their injuries. They found that 20% (15 children) who lost consciousness had lingering forgetfulness or other non-physical problems a year after their injury.
Problems like forgetfulness were more likely to linger than fatigue, dizziness and other physical complaints.
The study showed that losing consciousness seemed to be a much more telling sign of future complications. Children who lost consciousness or who had other mild head trauma that caused brain abnormalities on imaging tests, compared with kids who didn’t get knocked out or who had normal imaging test results.such as:
- Forgetfulness
- Difficulty paying attention
- Headaches
- Fatigue
Furthermore, they found 6 of the test subjects who had shown abnormal brain scans had lingering headaches or other physical problems three months after being injured.
“What parents want to know is if my kid is going to do OK. Most do OK, but we have to get better at predicting which kids are going to have problems,” Yeates said. “[Some children] may need temporary accommodations, including extra time taking school tests, or wearing sunglasses if bright light gives them headaches.”
Post Car Accident Treatment
When emergency medical staff, both at the scene and in the emergency room, examine the child, they must be vigilant. Just because it is a closed head injury doesn’t mean it isn’t a very serious situation that could have lasting effects on the child.
“[Concussions] should not necessarily be treated as minor injuries,” Dr. Frederick Rivara, Archives’ editor, said in a journal editorial.
Rivara, a pediatrician and University of Washington researcher has conducted similar showing that mild traumatic brain injuries, including concussions, in children should be properly prioritized and require far more study in order to determine the real effect, what type of treatment and activity restriction is needed on children in order to curb the number of head injuries resulting in future developmental consequences of head trauma.
It is imperative that parents, after a serious car accident, make sure that their children’s head injuries are properly examined, addressed, and monitored. Also, following the accident, they need to monitor their children’s brain function, memory, behavior, and keep a close eye on grades. They should also have regular candid conversations with teachers and care givers in order to determine if they have observed changes.
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Seattle Car Accident Lawyers
The violent impact of a rear-end or front end crash can have a severe effect on children. In the case of spinal cord injuries or brain injuries, the child’s development can get severely hampered, affecting their physical and cognitive abilities throughout their lives. No parent wants to see his or her child grow up with a disability because of a car accident that may have been avoidable by displaying just a little bit more caution.
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