"Concussion" is, unfortunately, not a technically precise term with
generally agreed-upon meaning. Some people use it interchangeably with
"mild head injury", or "mild head trauma", but there is a very vocal
subgroup of my colleagues who protest that there is no demonstrable
"injury" in "mild head injury" ("mild TBI"), and ascribe the complaints
that some people have after the acute phase to non-physiological
factors.
Very loosely, these terms refer to a blow to the head and/or sudden
acceleration or deceleration of the skull relaative to its contents
(i.e. the brain) sufficient to have SOME kind of immediately obvious
effect--perhaps brief loss of consciousness, or perhaps just a brief
period of being "dazed" and confused.
Whether there is any lasting change in structure (e.g. disruption of
axons) or in physiological function is a matter of considerable
controversy; suffice to say, they would not be the sort of changes that
would show up on CT or MRI, although it may be that imaging techniques
sensitive to metabolic changes (e.g. SPECT) may detect some.
The majority of people with mild head trauma seem to recover from
initial effects within periods ranging from hours to a few weeks. A
minority complain of problems for longer periods. In tcontrast to
those of my colleagues who doubt the physiological basis of these
complaints, some suspect a physiological basis but cannot specify what
it might be. Over the past few years, I have presented some brief
papers developing a possible explanation in terms of neuroimmune
processes.
The bottom line is, only time will tell which group of patients you
fall into. As a precaution, you should take it easy for a while (both
physically and in terms of mental work), be sensitive to your limits if
you are experiencing some difficulties, but avoid prolonging your
"convalescence" longer than necessary; get back into your regular
activities as sooon as you can comfortably do so.
F. Frank LeFever, Ph.D.
New York Neuropsychology Group
In <37883B34.266A33F1 at ix.netcom.com> Dan Royal <dgroyal at ix.netcom.com>
writes:
>>Yesterday I was about to replace the springs on my garage door. It's
>one of the old (35 yrs), very heavy wooden doors. We had it supported
>with a 2x4, but the support slipped. The door came crashing down, hit
>my right shoulder, spun me around and wedged my head between the
garage
>door and the side of the garage. When my neighbor opened the door, I
>fell to the floor unconsious.
>>Except for soreness, I feel pretty good, but I have a lot of swelling,
>and stitches in my head. The doctor says I have a mild concussion,
but
>that I'm fortunate to even be alive.
>>Can anybody give me a good web site that explains just what a
concussion
>is for a non-medical person?
>>Thanks,
>>Dan
>
