Head Injury

  What is it?

  A head injury is any trauma that leads to
  injury of the scalp, skull, or brain. These
  injuries can range from a minor bump on the
  skull to a devastating brain injury.
  Head injury can be classified as either closed
  or penetrating. In a closed head injury, the
  head sustains a blunt force by striking against
  an object. A concussion is a type of closed
  head injury that can vary in degrees of
  severity based on the symptoms. In a
  penetrating head injury, an object breaks
  through the skull and enters the brain. This object is usually moving at a very high
  speed.

  What are the symptoms?

  The signs of a head injury can occur immediately or develop slowly over several hours.
  Even if the skull is not fractured, the brain can bang against the inside of the skull and
  be bruised. (This is called a concussion.) The head may look fine, but complications could
  result from bleeding/swelling inside the skull.

• Loss of consciousness, confusion, or drowsiness
• Low breathing rate or drop in blood pressure
• Convulsions
• Fracture of the skull or facial bones, facial bruising, swelling at the site of the injury, or scalp wound
• Fluid drainage from nose, mouth, or ears (may be clear or bloody)
• Headaches
• Initial improvement followed by worsening symptoms
• Irritability (especially in children), personality changes, or unusual behavior
• Restlessness, clumsiness, lack of coordination
• Slurred speech or blurred vision
• Inability to move one or more limbs
• Stiff neck or vomiting
• Pupil changes
• Inability to hear, see, taste, or smell
• Tinnitus (ringing in the ears), dizziness and/or vertigo (spinning)

  What is the treatment?

  There are qualified health care providers that can help in the recovery process.
  Early treatment of symptoms by professionals who specialize in brain injury may
  speed the recovery. The primary care doctor typically refers to a neurologist,
  neuropsychologist, neurosurgeon, and/or specialist in rehabilitation.

  Balance Therapy of Texas provides a specialized form of physical therapy to decrease,
  if not eliminate, a patient's complaints of dizziness and/or unsteadiness. Balance
  Retraining Therapy (BRT) is a scientifically based and clinically valid approach for
  the treatment of dizziness and balance problems due to the vestibular (inner ear) system
  the central nervous system, and/or the musculoskeletal (strength and posture) system.

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