What happens to the brain during concussion?
Within the skull, the brain floats in a protective suspension of cerebrospinal fluid. Concussion occurs when either a direct impact or whiplash effect causes the brain to move inside the head and bump against the skull. As a result, neurons are damaged and the brain may bruise at the site of impact.
What happens when your brain is bruised?
You may feel dazed and off-balance. You also may have brief decreased vision or memory. A brain contusion is a bruise of the brain. It causes bleeding in your brain and swelling.
How does the brain respond to injuries?
In closed head injury, the rapid movement of the brain can also stretch and injure neuronal axons – the long threadlike arms of nerve cells in the brain that link cells to one another, that link various parts of the brain to each other and that link the brain to the rest of the body.
What happens to a boxer’s brain?
Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) is a serious complication of repeated concussions. Boxers get hit in the head repeatedly and can suffer from multiple concussions, which is a risk factor for CTE. CTE is also known as punch drunk syndrome, boxer’s brain, or dementia pugilistica.
What part of the brain is damaged during a concussion?
The parts of the brain that are most commonly affected in traumatic brain injury are the frontal and temporal lobes. And part of the reason for that is that they’re up against bone, and it’s fairly rigid and rough bone.
What happens during a concussion at the cellular level?
Concussions usually do not involve easily detectable structural damage to the brain. Instead, they cause injury at the cellular level, affecting the activity, connections, and supporting cells of the neurons responsible for brain-based functions.
What happens to neurons when the brain experiences a traumatic injury?
When the brain is injured, axons can be pulled, stretched, and torn. If there is too much injury to the axon, the neuron will not survive. In a DAI, this happens to neurons all over the brain. This type of damage is often difficult to detect with brain scans.
What happens when your brain moves?
“A concussion can arise from the brain moving either rapidly back and forth or banging against the side of the skull.” This sudden movement can stretch and damage brain tissue and trigger a chain of harmful changes within the brain that interfere with normal brain activities.