Blunt Head Trauma & Effects

Overview

Blunt head trauma is common in automobile and other types of accidents. A hard blow to the head can cause the brain to hit the skull. Such injuries can be mild, moderate or severe and can involve bleeding and damage to nerve fibers. Each year in the United States, about 1.4 million people sustain traumatic brain injury, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Of them, 235,000 are hospitalized and 50,000 die.

Symptoms

The symptoms of blunt head trauma depend on how severe the injury is. Brain injury brings two problems: the initial injury, which may include bruising; and the later effects of pressure, which builds as the brain tissue swells. A mild brain injury can bring brief unconsciousness, a headache, a confused state, balance problems, a shift in mood, trouble remembering things or concentrating, and sensory disturbances such as a ringing in the ears and blurred vision. If the head trauma is more severe, you may experience all of those symptoms plus a few more, including seizures, dilated pupils in one or both eyes, continual vomiting or nausea, weakness in the limbs, a lasting headache and extreme confusion. An inability to wake up also can signal a serious problem.

Causes

Approximately 50 percent of traumatic brain injuries result from car, motorcycle and bicycle accidents, according to the U.S. government's National Institutes of Health. Violence leads to another 20 percent. Falls are the No. 1 reason for traumatic brain injury in senior citizens. Military operations also bring cases of head trauma. During explosive blasts, waves of pressure pass through the head and can injure the brain without fracturing the skull, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Treatment

If there are signs of moderate or severe blunt head trauma, it is crucial to get medical treatment quickly. Emergency workers concentrate on stabilizing the patient in order to prevent further damage. They will try to ensure that the brain gets enough blood and oxygen and that blood pressure does not go too high. Sometimes surgery is required to repair or take out ruptured blood vessels. Long-term, if the injury is moderate or severe, rehabilitation will be required, possibly including physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy and psychiatry. Rehabilitation may be performed in an outpatient or inpatient setting, depending on the patient's needs.

Prognosis

Most people who suffer blunt trauma to the head have mild cases and do not even have to be hospitalized. Of the 1.4 million people who suffer traumatic brain injuries each year, 1.1 million are treated and released from a hospital emergency room. Nonetheless, in the United States, about 5.3 million people require help with the activities of daily living---such as shopping, cooking and bathing---because of a traumatic brain injury they have suffered, according to the CDC. The idea behind rehabilitative therapy for blunt head trauma is to get the patient's functioning in life as close as possible to the way it was before the injury. But some patients are left with disabilities, either physical or mental.

Costs

In addition to the health effects they cause, traumatic brain injuries exact high financial costs from individuals, families and society. Over the course of a lifetime, the medical and other costs for a person surviving a brain injury can total $4 million, according to the Family Caregiver Alliance. The costs, direct and indirect, of traumatic brain injury in the United States total more than 48 billion a year---with nearly $37 billion being spent on people who ultimately survive and just under $17 billion spent on those who do not.