What is a head injury?

一种head injury is any sort of injury to your brain, skull, or scalp. This can range from a mild bump or bruise to a traumatic brain injury. Common head injuries include concussions, skull fractures, and scalp wounds. The consequences and treatments vary greatly, depending on what caused your head injury and how severe it is.

Head injuries may be either closed or open. A closed head injury is any injury that doesn’t break your skull. An open (penetrating) head injury is one in which something breaks your scalp and skull and enters your brain.

It can be hard to assess how serious a head injury is just by looking. Some minor head injuries bleed a lot, while some major injuries don’t bleed at all. It’s important to treat all head injuries seriously and get them assessed by a doctor.

In general, head injuries can be divided into two categories based on what causes them. They can either be head injuries due to blows to the head or head injuries due to shaking.

摇头造成的头部伤害最常见婴儿和小孩, but they can occur any time you experience violent shaking.

由击球引起的头部伤害通常与：

In most cases, yourskullwill protect yourbrain从严重的伤害。然而,受伤严重to cause head injury can also be associated with injuries to the spine.

Hematoma

一种hematoma is a collection, or clotting, of blood outside the blood vessels. It can be very serious if a hematoma occursin the brain。凝血可以导致在头骨内部建立压力。这可能会导致你失去知觉或导致永久性脑损伤。

Hemorrhage

一种hemorrhage is uncontrolled bleeding. There can be bleeding in the space around your brain, called蛛网膜下腔出血, or bleeding within your brain tissue, called脑出血。

蛛网膜下腔出血经常导致headandvomiting。The severity of intracerebral hemorrhages depends on how much bleeding there is, but over time any amount of blood can cause pressure buildup.

震荡

一种震荡occurs when the impact on the head is severe enough to cause brain injury. It’s thought to be the result of the brain hitting against the hard walls of your skull or the forces of sudden acceleration and deceleration. Generally speaking, the loss of function associated with a concussion is temporary. However, repeated concussions can eventually lead to permanent damage.

浮肿

一种ny brain injury can lead to浮肿, or swelling. Many injuries cause swelling of the surrounding tissues, but it’s more serious when it occurs in your brain. Your skull can’t stretch to accommodate the swelling. This leads to pressure buildup in your brain, causing your brain to press against your skull.

Skull fracture

Unlike most bones in your body, your skull doesn’t have bone marrow. This makes the skull very strong and difficult to break. A broken skull is unable to absorb the impact of a blow, making it more likely that there’ll also be damage to your brain.Learn more about skull fractures.

Diffuse axonal injury

弥漫性轴突损伤（纯粹损伤）是对不会引起出血的大脑的伤害，但损伤脑细胞。对脑细胞的损害导致它们无法运作。它也可能导致肿胀，导致更多的损坏。虽然它与其他形式的脑损伤没有如此外观，但弥漫性轴突损伤是最危险的头部伤害之一。它可以导致永久性脑损伤甚至死亡。

你的头部比身体的任何其他部分都有更多的血管，所以在你的大脑表面或大脑中出血是头部伤害的严重关注。然而，并非所有头部受伤都会导致出血。

要意识到其他症状是值得注意的。严重脑损伤的许多症状都不会立即出现。在您伤害头部后，您应该始终继续监测您的症状。

轻微损伤的常见症状包括：

The symptoms of a severe head injury include many of the symptoms of minor head injuries. They can also include:

不应轻视伤病。如果您认为您有严重的头部受伤的症状，请立即查看您的医生。

特别是，如果您遇到以下任何任何一项，您应该始终寻求立即的医疗注意：

  • loss of consciousness
  • 困惑
  • disorientation

Either call 911 or your local emergency services or go to an emergency room. Even if you don’t go to the ER immediately after the injury occurs, you should seek help if you still have symptoms after a day or two.

In the case of a potentially serious head injury, you should always call 911 or your local emergency services. Motion can sometimes make a head injury worse. Emergency medical personnel are trained to move injured people carefully without causing more damage.

One of the first ways your doctor will assess your head injury is with the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS). The GCS is a 15-point test that assesses your mental status. A high GCS score indicates a less severe injury.

Your doctor will need to know the circumstances of your injury. Often, if you’ve had a head injury, you won’t remember the details of the accident. If it’s possible, you should bring someone with you who witnessed the accident. It will be important for your doctor to determine if you lost consciousness and for how long if you did.

Your doctor will also examine you to look for signs of trauma, includingbruising和肿胀。你也可能会得到神经学检查。在此考试期间，您的医生将评估您的神经功能通过评估您的肌肉控制和力量，眼睛运动和感觉等。

成像测试通常用于诊断头部损伤。一种CT scanwill help your doctor look for fractures, evidence of bleeding and凝结, brain swelling, and any other structural damage. CT scans are fast and accurate, so they’re typically the first type of imaging you’ll receive. You may also receive an核磁共振成像扫描。This can offer a more detailed view of the brain. An MRI scan will usually only be ordered once you’re in stable condition.

头部损伤的治疗取决于损伤的类型和严重程度。

With minor head injuries, there are often no symptoms other than pain at the site of the injury. In these cases, you may be told to take对乙酰氨基酚(Tylenol) for the pain.

You shouldn’t take nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as布洛芬（advil）或阿司匹林(Bayer). These can make any bleeding worse. If you have an open cut, your doctor may use sutures or staples to close it. They’ll then cover it with a bandage.

Even if your injury seems minor, you should still watch your condition to make sure it doesn’t get worse. It isn’t true that you shouldn’t go to sleep after you have injured your head. But you should be woken up every two hours or so to check for any new symptoms. You should go back to the doctor if you develop any new or worsening symptoms.

如果您有严重的头部受伤，您可能需要住院。您在医院收到的治疗将取决于您的诊断。

The treatment for severe head injuries can include:

Medication

If you’ve had a severe brain injury, you may be givenanti-seizure medication。You’re at risk for seizures in the week following your injury.

你可以给予diureticsif your injury has caused pressure buildup in your brain. Diuretics cause you to excrete more fluids. This can help relieve some of the pressure.

如果你的伤害非常严重，你可能会被药物治疗让你感到诱导coma。This may be an appropriate treatment if your blood vessels are damaged. When you’re in a coma, your brain doesn’t need as much oxygen and nutrients as it normally does.

Surgery

It may be necessary to do emergency surgery to prevent further damage to your brain. For example, your doctor may need to operate to:

  • 去除血肿
  • repair your skull
  • 释放头骨中的一些压力

Rehabilitation

如果您有严重的脑损伤，您可能很可能需要康复来重新获得全脑功能。您获得的康复类型将取决于您伤势导致的功能。脑损伤的人通常需要有助于获得恢复流动性和言语。

前景取决于伤势的严重程度。大多数有小头部受伤的人都没有持久的后果。有严重的头部伤害的人可能面临其性格，身体能力和思考能力的永久性变化。

Severe head injuries in childhood can be particularly concerning. It’s generally thought developing brains are susceptible to injuries. There’s ongoing research studying this issue.

Your healthcare team will work with you to ensure that you have as full of a recovery as possible.