Concussion: symptoms and therapy
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concussion
General
A concussion (Commotio cerebri) is a mild craniocerebral trauma, i.e. damage to the brain with brief loss of consciousness. A concussion causes only temporary brain dysfunction and does not cause permanent damage to brain structures.
How concussions occur
When children play and run around, accidents can happen very quickly. This can also lead to a violent impact on the head, which leads to a temporary malfunction of the nerve cells. A concussion can also be caused by very strong acceleration, deceleration or rotation of the skull. However, they must be strong enough to cause immediate unconsciousness.
Symptoms of a concussion
Every concussion begins with an unconscious phase. This can be as short as a few seconds or as long as minutes. However, it should not exceed a duration of 30 minutes. After passing out, your child will likely have a headache and may also experience nausea, vomiting, and dizziness.
Sometimes it can also happen that there is memory loss for the time just before and immediately after the accident. However, this must not be longer than one hour before the accident and up to 30 minutes after the accident.
You should always take your child to the doctor if the unconsciousness lasts longer than 30 minutes, your child becomes sleepy again after waking up, you cannot make contact with your child, your child is nauseous and has to vomit or your child is sick been confused for a long time. Especially in young children, it can happen that symptoms only appear after a long time. Even then, you should see a doctor as soon as possible.
Concussion: therapy and course
Basically, your child with a concussion will need to be hospitalized for 24 hours for observation. If the doctor confirms after this time that there are no abnormalities with your child, it can go home again, but it has to rest for a few more days. If the symptoms return after a while, your child will have to go to the hospital again for observation to rule out serious injuries.
However, the symptoms usually go away on their own after a few days. Initially, however, your child should not exercise or watch TV.