Contents:
- Medical Video: Concussion / Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)
- What is a head injury?
- What causes head injury?
- What are the symptoms that occur if a head injury has caused brain damage?
- What is the treatment for people who have brain injuries?
Medical Video: Concussion / Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)
Head injury is a global health problem that can cause death and disability in a person. In Indonesia alone, based on data from the Ministry of Health in 2013, there were 100 thousand people who died as a result of head injuries and brain damage.
Head injuries are injuries most often experienced by victims of traffic accidents. In Indonesia it is known that as many as 70% of victims of traffic accidents are motorcycle riders aged around 15 to 55 years. The level of disability and lifting of deaths caused by head injuries and brain damage is still quite high at 25%.
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What is a head injury?
Head injury is a condition of injury that occurs in the skull, soft tissue of the head, and brain. This is very dangerous because it can cause disability, mental disorders, and even death. There are two types of head injuries that often occur, namely:
Traumatic Brain Injury or intracranial injury, is an injury caused by external pressure, such as a blow or impact, which can cause the brain to move and shift inside the skull or even cause skull damage. While skull damage can cause brain damage.
Acquired Brain Injuryor internal brain injury is an injury caused by pressure from the brain. This occurs at the cellular level and is most often caused by tumors and other nervous system diseases, such as stroke.
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What causes head injury?
When the brain lacks oxygen for a long time, brain damage can occur. This damage can occur due to head injury or various other nervous system diseases. Causes of traumatic brain injury are:
- Traffic accidents are the main cause that causes a high incidence of head injuries in Indonesia. In addition, head injuries are often caused by motorists not complying with traffic regulations, such as not using helmets on motorists and seat belt on motorists.
- Injured while exercising. Sports that are at risk of causing head injuries are soccer, boxing, hockey, baseball, skateboarding, and various other types of sports that are of a nature high-impact or extreme sports.
- Falling, such as falling out of bed, falling in the bathroom, or falling while climbing stairs is the most frequent cause of head injury in adults and children alike.
- Physical violence, as many as 20% of head injuries are caused by violence, such as being hit by a bullet, or a hit and a hard impact on the head.
In addition, there are other causes of brain injury, such as:
- A drug or poisonous substance
- Infection of the nervous system
- Sink and choke
- Stroke
- Heart attack
- Aneurysm
- Neurological disease
- Drug abuse.
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What are the symptoms that occur if a head injury has caused brain damage?
The following are symptoms and signs that arise when a person experiences brain damage, whether it is due to a traumatic head injury or damage that occurs due to a disturbance in the internal brain. These symptoms are divided into four major disorders, namely:
Cognitive symptoms namely in the form of disturbances in processing information, difficult in expression, difficult to understand other people, unable to focus, unable to understand abstract concepts, loss of memory, and difficulty in making decisions.
Symptoms of perception, namely changes in the ability of vision, hearing, and sense of touch, disturbances in smell and feel, have balance problems, and are sensitive to pain.
Physical symptoms caused is extreme fatigue, tremor, difficulty speaking, sleep disorders, convulsions, and light sensitivity.
Symptoms of emotions and behavior which arises from brain damage including, irritability and stress, having high emotions or even no emotions at all, aggressive nature increases.
What is the treatment for people who have brain injuries?
Treatment and treatment of brain injury depends on the severity of the injury. Mild head injuries usually rarely cause symptoms.
If you experience a mild head injury and feel pain, you are encouraged to take acetaminophen to reduce the pain. But you are not advised to take nonstreroidal drugs, such as aspirin or ibuprofen because it can cause more severe bleeding. Whereas for severe head injuries various treatments are usually carried out such as surgery, rehabilitation, and taking some medicines.
