Brain Injuries...

I think a good may posters here are already brain damaged.

roger merriman wrote:

cooldad wrote:

I think a good may posters here are already brain damaged.

well i certainly am, here be my skull.

Can't be it's got no hair.

HaydenM wrote:

I remember talking about concussion 10 years ago when I was 15 with a mate who played rugby at quite a high level. He was saying that if they got even a mild concussion they weren't allowed to play for around 3 weeks so he had to be very careful when he was riding in the runup to matches. He said that if you get concussed again while you are healing it can be really bad for you. I remember thinking something like 'jeez, you feel a bit groggy for a bit then it just goes away'. Why is it that in amateur under 16's rugby they had this knowledge 10 years ago and seemingly no one in mountain biking has a clue?

Also, has anyone heard anything about the 'don't go to sleep while you have concussion' thing recently? I remember falling off a longboard at 2am then having to stay up all night drinking energy drink. I have a feeling the energy drink did more harm than me having a kip...

It would stem from the fact, if head injuries go bad, it happens quickly so trying to sleep it off in some cases would be fatal, ie a large bleed getting bigger, in a confined space ie the skull.

Had a few in my time playing Rugby. Two incidents stick out the most. One I remember trying to run in a straight after and ending up going in a circle. The other left me right side of my bottom lip and chin numb for around 6 months. Each time carried on playing in the game and weeks after.

Only had one on the bike around a year ago but wasn't too bad.

NFL is another that it's already starting to see and have to address the after effects.

If a jockey has a bump to the head they can't ride/compete again untill they pass a medical. This seems like something the UCI and similar could adopt.

In the event of a concussion you should be in hospital.

The reason we keep people awake is to assess their conscious level, a decrease in this could indicate changes to their intracranial pressure which could be caused by a bleed of some sort. A CT Scan is normally the next course of action following a drop in consciousness.

If you are in hospital you are checked very regularly to make sure that your level of consciousness has not changed, but you are fine to sleep as you need to rest and recover, but will find it annoying being woken up every hour with questions like 'do you know what year it is?' to make sure your response is appropriate.

If you've had a concussion and are not in hospital, yes, try and stay awake and get there as quickly as possible.

Cyclists with Sub Dural and Extra Dural Haematomas are quite common inpatients to Neuro Intensive Cares, but I've only seen a few. I've seen a fair few more horse riders and motorcyclists!

Always wear your helmet, stay safe.

cooldad wrote:

She obviously had no sense of humour, looked at me blankly and told me she didn't think I was going to die.

I can re-assure you that you are going to die - but she was right that it wasn't going to be from that accident!

cooldad wrote:

told me she didn't think I was going to die.
It was all so reassuring.

Did you die?

My father had a subdural hematoma which didn't become apparent (and serious) for nearly three months after a seemingly innocuous couple of tumbles when skiing in a badly fitted helmet. Here was immediately disorientated for about an hour afterwards but refused to ask medical attention and we thought nothing more of it when he woke up fine the next day and carried on skiing.

There months later he couldn't string more than the words together after a rapid deterioration and a couple of days later he had two holes drilled into his skull to remove the pressure.

Eleven months later he was back skiing normally, but wearing a properly fitted helmet!