Concussion Health Video

A concussion is the most common type of brain injury, often occurring in bike and car accidents or during sports. Learn tips on handling concussion in this video.

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Avoid aspirin for pain
Seek medical advice
Be wary of multiple concussions

About this Author

Dr. Stallworth is board certified in rehabilitation and phsycial medicine. She graduated from Baylor College of Medicine and finished her residency at Baylor. Dr. Stallworth is known for being a superb and compassionate physician that believes in not only health of the body of the mind as well. She currently serves on the board of Centennial Medical Center and is a former board member of the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. She now resides with her family in middle Tennessee.

DR. CATHERINE STALLWORTH: Hi. I am Dr. Cathy Stallworth, and I would like to talk to you about concussions. Many people think that you have to lose consciousness to have a concussion but that is indeed not the case. A concussion occurs any time you have some type of trauma to the head. That can be jostling of the head where the brain is basically just hitting the inside of the skull or it can actually be where you hit your head or somebody that falls and they fall and hit their head. Kids that are playing sports and they run into each other can end up with a concussion. The two main symptoms of a concussion are amnesia, which is loss of memory and confusion. Fortunately for most people, this amnesia and confusion is self-limited, but it can go on for a longer period of time. There are some other symptoms that people can also get when they have a concussion. Some of those symptoms include: headache, dizziness, ringing in the ears, nausea and vomiting or slurred speech. There are other things that can cause symptoms similar to a concussion. So certainly if you have significant memory loss that lasts for more than an hour or two, you probably need to get in to see a physician. Other reasons why you need to be checked out more thoroughly include: persistent vision loss, loss in balance, change in the pupils. Certainly any time you have any type of a head trauma, if you've got bleeding from the nose, bleeding from the ears that's not related to direct trauma to the nose, that can be indicative of something much more serious. Certainly, we want to treat symptomatically. So for pain, something like Tylenol is probably very effective. Some of the nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs like ibuprofen, Naproxen can work pretty well. The one thing that we do recommend that you avoid is aspirin, because, again, aspirin can increase the tendency to bleed. And the other thing that--typically if you are needing this much pain medicine, you probably will need to see a physician. You're using some type of narcotic medication. I really do not recommend that. And then the final point that I like to make about concussion is that once you have had concussion, you are at risk for having more significant neurologic damage if you have future concussions. So certainly, a kid who is playing sports who has had a couple of concussions really needs to get together with the trainer, the coach, the doctor and have a good thorough evaluation and get some medical guidance on whether or not you should continue playing that particular sport. If you have any further questions or concerns about concussion, this is one area where I do recommend that you see a physician.