Mild Brain Injury

Course overview

Since mild brain injuries will affect up to 2% of the population, it is important to know the risks that can lead to this injury, and possible diagnostic procedures. Often sports are the leading cause, including boxing, football, soccer, and horse back riding. The chances of sustaining a head injury can be reduced by wearing protective headgear in these sports, as well as when riding a bike, skiing, or skating. Diagnosis is difficult due to the lack of tests available, though mild concussions such as these are characterized by disorientation, loss consciousness for under 30minutes, and loss of memory for events around the time of injury. While imaging such as MRI and CT scans generally show no damage, the Glasgow Coma Scale is another option for diagnosing mild brain injuries. The Glasgow Coma Scale measures the severity of comas by analyzing patients? response to different stimuli. Low scores on the Glasgow Scale are indicative of severe comas, while high scores indicate very mild head injury and resulting comas. The symptoms of mild brain injury are varied, and include physical, cognitive, and behavioral symptoms; examples of some symptoms include headaches, depression, anxiety, slowed thinking, and decreased educational achievement. Post-traumatic amnesia sometimes occurs as well. The longer the duration of amnesia, the more severe the brain injury. Measuring symptoms by neuropsychological tests is often difficult as well. This is most often due to the inability of having a pre-injury mental status available for post-injury comparison. Another aspect of mild brain injury addressed in this Health Update is the case of mild brain injuries in young children. Such injuries are most often referred to as Shaken Baby Syndrome. Symptoms for this type of injury include poor feeding responses, vomiting, and impaired consciousness; often there are compounding injuries such as bruises and fractured ribs. This type of abuse may be repeated, depending on the mental state of the caregiver. The final section of the home study course outlines the way in which mild brain injuries can be prevented. Prevention methods can vary from simple actions like wearing seatbelts in cars, to reducing medication in older individuals that may cause loss of balance and falls. Mild brain injury is a widespread injury that can be prevented in most cases. While symptoms of concussions are varied, and diagnosis can be difficult, this home study course gives a well-organized overview of this type of injury.