Where is her helmet??!!

If she is not careful, she is going to be dazed and confused. I mean, who hasn't wiped out on their roller blades, skateboard or bike.

Big deal you think. Wrong!

Head injuries are the last frontier of research in sports medicine and as more information is collected, the scarier things look. The good old concussion is the most common form of head injury and can occur in just about any sport. You don’t even have to hit your head to suffer one. A bad whiplash can actually shake your brain enough to give you symptoms of a concussion.

Before looking at what the scary outcomes of a concussion can be, lets take a look at how concussions are classified:

Grade 1 Concussion
A concussion is grade 1 if the athlete is confused for a short period of time, has not lost consciousness and has the symptoms go away in less than 15 minutes.

Grade 2 Concussion
A concussion is grade 2 if the athlete is confused for a short period of time, has not lost consciousness but has symptoms which last longer than 15 minutes.

Grade 3 Concussion
A concussion is grade 3 if there is any loss of consciousness, even if it lasts only for a few seconds. Athletes with a Grade 2 or 3 concussion need to have an exam by medical personnel.

Any athlete who suffers a concussion may feel the effects for up to weeks to come. These may include headache, dizziness, nausea or vomiting, and lack of awareness of her surroundings; all symptoms most common in the minutes to hours after the concussion. An athlete may also suffer a type of amnesia where she forgets the incident leading up to the injury. In the next few days to weeks, the athlete may continue to have a nagging headache, be lightheaded, have poor attention and concentration, have a poor memory, sleep badly, or be tired, irritable, anxious, or depressed.

If you think that sounds bad, it gets worse. Recent studies have shown that multiple minor concussions are worse in the long run than a single bad concussion. A number of minor blows to the brain can have long term effects on sleep and concentration and can cause chronic headaches.

Studies on athletes who had bumped their heads repeatedly, showed they had poor results on tests that looked at their ability to learn words, to think quickly and to handle complex tasks like cooking a big meal.

For some reason, the youthful brain remains more vulnerable after a first concussion for a longer time than a more mature brain. This means that head injured teenagers should probably stay away from their training and their sports for a longer time than we see professional athletes doing.

Finally, there is a very scary condition called Second Impact Syndrome. You may have heard of a young athlete who died suddenly after what looks like a minor head injury. Evidence now shows that this may occur in young people who have already suffered a concussion but have actually not fully recovered. Their "not back to normal brains" are still extremely sensitive to that second blow which kills them.

The bottom line with regards to head injuries is to use your head! And I don't mean to break your fall when you hit the pavement! Don’t worry about a little helmet-head. Wear head protection. A few hairs out of place is much less worrisome than scrambled neurons in your brain.

Also, be very aware of your fellow athletes who suffer any evidence of a concussion. The key is: any degree of injury to the head should be taken very seriously. Obviously, everyone wants to get back to their sport in a hurry but what’s the rush? After a head injury, the best bet is to avoid sports where another head injury could occur, at least for a short period of time.

Heads up, all!
Dr. Krista Cooper, MD