If you’ve been in an accident and suffered a blow to the head then you might be worried about a concussion. Concussions are well-known for affecting athletes in high-contact sports like football and boxing, but they can happen to everyday people too! Whether you fell and hit your head or were in a car accident, you will want to find a doctor for head injury treatment that will likely include assessing you for a concussion.
Over a million suffer from a concussion every year, and while some can be mild and feel like an uncomfortable headache, others can be more serious and come with uncomfortable side effects. These symptoms of a concussion can really affect your daily life and can even affect growth and development in children. While you or your child may not have been playing a sport, you can still get diagnosed with a concussion from a head injury.
Understanding Concussions
Concussions can be caused by either a strong blow to the head or from your head getting shaken around too hard which could come from sports activities, car accident injuries or even from a simple slip. Either way, this causes your brain to jostle around inside your skull. Your skull is designed to protect your brain and there are flexible layers inside your skull that help cushion your brain and absorb shock. However, with a violent injury or hard fall, your brain can get jostled around so much that it actually hits the side of your skull. This can cause your brain to bruise, and in severe cases, can cause a brain bleed.
Concussions are the most common form of a traumatic brain injury. While you might think hitting your head on the steering wheel during a car accident wouldn’t cause something as serious as a traumatic brain injury, concussions are more common than you might think. That’s why you should always take the necessary precautions after any type of blow to the head and get checked out by a doctor. Traumatic brain injuries like a concussion can cause serious damage if they are left untreated.
What Happens After a Concussion
Whether you fell were in a car accident, fell off your bike, or slipped down some stairs and hit your head, you should see a doctor right away for head injury treatment. Concussions can cause a wide range of symptoms in people that can be physical, cognitive, and emotional. Two people may suffer the same injury and experience completely different symptoms afterward depending on how their brain and bodies respond to the injury.
Some examples of concussion symptoms include headaches, nausea, vomiting, blurred vision, and dizziness. You may also experience some short-term cognitive impairment, like difficulty focusing or concentrating and feeling forgetful. Some people who get a concussion may also temporarily lose consciousness immediately after the injury. Emergency symptoms of a concussion that require a trip to the emergency room immediately include seizures, increased confusion or slurred speech, and changes in consciousness.
How a Chiropractor Can Help
When you see a doctor after a concussion for head injury treatment, they will want to know how the injury occurred and what symptoms you experienced. It is helpful to write down the symptoms you experienced, especially as they may change, or get worse or better over time. Your car accident chiropractor will want to know how your body reacted right away after the injury, like if you lost consciousness or had difficulty standing, walking, or speaking. It will also be helpful to know when other symptoms started, like if you began experiencing headaches right away or if they came on more gradually.
Your chiropractor may also run certain tests to assess your cognitive functioning, including concentration and emotional responses. Some people experience difficulty sleeping after suffering from a concussion. Your doctor will run through concussion protocols to assess how your brain injury is affecting your body’s ability to function properly.
Once the swelling has subsided, your chiropractor can use gentle, safe therapeutic techniques to help support the brain and body’s ability to heal itself. Your doctor will want to assess your spine and determine if any misalignments are affecting your brain’s ability to effectively communicate with the rest of your body. The nervous system is housed in the spinal column and any misaligned vertebrae or spinal discs can negatively affect or even damage nerves that are trying to send signals to your body.
If you’ve been in an accident and are suffering from a concussion, our chiropractors at ProCare Medical Center can help you recover safely and effectively from a traumatic brain injury with effective head injury treatment.
