Mr. Peter Rippey came to our third day of Trauma Week to discuss concussions.
A concussion is a traumatically induced transient disturbance of brain function. Despite what many assume, concussions are not always caused by direct trauma to the head but may occur due to transmitted force.
If concussed, you may experience photophobia, phonophobia, vunlnerablity to a second injury, slower processing (both mentally and physically), and impaired cognition. A concussion is only clinically diagnosed; you cannot receive a diagnosis from a blood test or scan.
After discussing the injury that occurred to our patient these past few days, we have began to notice Conner experiencing new symptoms. He is now becoming sensitive to light, loud noises, and states he did not sleep well the night of the incident while still feeling "foggy". Many times medicines can cause these symptoms so most concussions may remain un-diagnosed.
To put it into an athletic perspective, around 1.6 to 3.8 million concussions a year in sports and you are at a 2-15% risk of concussions during the athletic season. Although these are large numbers, these are only 30% of the concussions actually reported.
While teaching us the many facts of concussions, since they are so common around us, he also showed us way he checks his patients motor skills. He watched the way our pupils dilated and the balance based off vision in order to observe if the brain is processing correctly.
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