Mind if I ask a dumb question? I've been reading about the various concussions that people get. How do people keep getting concussions?

Thanks for clearing this up for me.

Melody

Hi Melody,

Concussion is one of the most common forms for injury. A concussion occurs every four minutes in Canada. In fact, traumatic brain injury (a more descriptive word for concussion) is the number one killer and disabler of Canadians under 44.

Traumatic brain injuries have many causes including sports injuries, car accidents, falls and domestic violence.

Sadly, once a person has had a concussion the injured brain is much more at risk for another injury. Some folks with Multiple Impact Syndrome can sustain a new concussion from something as seemingly harmless as a big sneeze.

Cheers

Hockey:

Thanks SO much for the explanation. I had no idea. And your last paragraph explained it distinctly. I didn't know that even a sneeze could cause a concussion. I knew a sneeze could put out one's back because that happened to my brother in law. He sneezed and his back went out.

I got an education today, and I really thank you.

Take care,
Melody

Hi

I also didn't realize how easy it was to get a concussion and how they can affect you by having so many.

I have had a few through car accidents (roll over and rear ended-neither my fault), and through health issues (fainting down stairs and landing face forward on a desk-which also resulted in a broken nose), I used to be a competitive fighter (ok, those were my own doing), and my least graceful one was standing up when I thought I had cleared a concrete slab overhang.

This concussion has been the worst by far, totally life changing and I am only now learning by reading everyones posts. I had no idea that the symptoms that I have felt from previous ones were from the head injuries. I just ignored them.

So I too am learning alot, and am really thankful that I can function, even if it isn't on the level that I did when I was working.

Tha

Hi Joanne,

You have my sincere sympathy for your plight.

With advances in imaging, the more research that is done, the more we realize just how serious concussion is. The brain never goes back completely to normal. Consequently, each new blow magnifies the damage exponentially. Yet despite the frequency and life-altering nature of concussion, most doctors remain infuriatingly ignorant. Concussion is not some minor "bump on the head."

Canadian pediatricians are lobbying to change the term "concussion" to "traumatic brain injury" in the hope that it will make doctors, patients, parents and coaches treat this condition with the seriousness it deserves.

On the plus side, the brain has an enormous capacity for placticity: to find new neuro pathways to get the job done. The problem is that very few resources are dedicated to brain injury. In Canada, only one in twenty patients will get anything approaching proper rehabilitation. In the U.S. the amount of research money, especially as a ratio to the vast number of victims, is beyond pathetic.

Perhaps having so many of our poor soldiers returning from Afghanistan with TBIs will shine some light on our neglected community.

Hi, I have a question. Every four minutes someone in Canada gets a concussion?? Why? What is it about Canada that every four minutes someone gets a concussion.

and thanks MUCH for this info. I absorb everything you say.

Melody

Hi Melody,

They calculate the per minute rate by looking at hospital records and doctors' billing codes and then dividing the cases by the total minutes in a year. It's just a way to give people a better sense of just how common this injury is.

Notwithstanding that my nation is hockey crazed, I suspect that the rate of concussion is probably pretty comparable among the industialized nations. Most concussion sufferers are young men. I suppose that has to do with their more active - and sometimes - risky lifestyles. Alcohol is directly invovled in 1/3 concussions. In my case, I was hit by a drunk driver.

Cheers

Hi.

Thanks so much for the explanation. My goodness, the things I learn every day would astound you.

And I am SO sorry that you were hit by a drunk driver.

Too much of this is happening on a daily basis. Either that or texting while driving. The man across the street from me is 80 years young, drives everywhere and now has a broken hand because his car was in an accident right on our corner because THE OTHER PERSON WAS TEXTING WHILE DRIVING.

What a world we live in.

Anyway, much appreciate your explanation.

Hope you are feeling good today.

Take care,
Melody