Concussions can be Serious

People may describe a concussion as a “mild” brain injury because they are usually not life-threatening. Even so, the effects of a concussion can be serious.

A concussion is a type of traumatic brain injury that causes the head and brain to move rapidly back and forth. When the brain bounces side to side or front to back (known as the coup-contrecoup effect), it results in widespread injury to the brain.

As demonstrated in the picture above, multiple injuries to the brain can occur when movement is involved, such as car accidents, falls, impact sports or recreational activities in which there is a risk of falling. When the head is hit in one location, that area of the brain will be impacted; when movement is involved, the brain may move around within the skull and cause additional areas of the brain to be impacted. The neurons in the picture demonstrate what occurs at a neuro-anatomy level.