Head injuries can be serious, but only about half of all patients who present to Emergency Rooms in the United States with head injuries will seek followup care once they leave the ER. The issue with injuries to the head isn’t usually the skull or even neck, it’s the brain. Cranial trauma can subject the brain to damaging forces, causing it to move around within the skull, or even impact against the inside of the cranium. This is what a concussion is; when the brain is compressed and subject to such a shock.
While the problem of untreated brain injury can be severe, people often don’t know to monitor for further symptoms after the initial injury incident. And not everyone in such a situation is properly informed of the risks by their healthcare provider, or contacted by a medical professional at a later time to remind them of the dangers.
Traumatic Brain Injury is suffered by more than two and a third million Americans annually. While severe TBI cases are nearly always admitted to a hospital for careful treatment, mild TBI cases are more of a mixed bag as to how doctors and healthcare providers manage them. Even a mild TBI can leave a patient with lasting effects that will alter the course of their life, if the “mild” damage is in just the wrong spots on the brain.
Initial trauma care is only the beginning for a head injury; follow up care can prevent brain damage #HealthStatus
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Key Points:
- 12.3 million people in America visit the emergency room with a traumatic brain injury each year.
- 2Most traumatic brain injuries occur in traffic accidents or because of falling.
- 344% of patients got follow up care during the study and even mild brain injuries can cause cognitive impairments if untreated.
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