Why are brain injuries such a big concern for teenagers?
- Aidan Mong
- Aug 31
- 3 min read
I’ve been concussed once in my life, when I fell off a couch and hit my head on a stone fireplace. It was minor, and now I just talk about it as a funny “remember when” over dinner. My brother has also been concussed one time. His was worse but also funnier. We were playing tag in a hotel room at Disney World. He was chasing, and I was running. The problem was that he was chasing me with a dual-edged lightsaber he’d built earlier that day, and that I had run into the narrow entryway to the room. He decided to run after me, so the sides of the lightsaber caught on the walls. He flew back and hit his head on the ground. Hard. We laugh about it now, but in the moment it was scary. We were young, maybe six and seven when our concussions happened, but they’re still a big concern for teenagers.
The severity of consequences depends on the severity of the injury. Minor head injuries like concussions are not linked to such severe post-concussion consequences, but other types of head and brain injury are.
Concussions
Concussions are a form of common mild traumatic brain injury (TBI), and can be linked to post-concussion syndrome (PCS). PCS symptoms vary from case to case with each patient, but some common symptoms include fatigue, sleep disturbance, dizziness, irritability, and apathy and other personality changes. PCS is diagnosed if these symptoms have lasted three weeks or longer. Most concussive symptoms go away after about 7-10 days, but PCS lasts longer. Often, concussions occur because of sports injuries in teens, but all teens are at risk depending on how clumsy you are (last part is a joke, but yes, all teens are at risk).
Contusions
Contusions are a less common and more severe TBI. These mostly occur in teens who play a heavy impact sport like football, or who have been in a severe accident (car accident, hit over the head with something really heavy). Contusions are defined as the bruising of the brain, meaning that blood vessels have burst in the brain. Symptoms of a contusion are similar to those of a concussion but with a few extras. Brain bruising may occur after a delay of a few hours to days, but other concussion-like symptoms can occur immediately. These can include loss of consciousness (immediate), dizziness, fatigue, and inability to concentrate.
Other types of TBI
Other types of TBI are severe and only occur in super rare cases. Most teens don’t have to worry about these, but education about them is still good. Severe TBIs can include, brain hematomas, skull fractures, and diffuse axonal injury (DAI). Hematomas are when the brain experiences severe bleeding and the blood collects in various layers of the brain (arachnoid mater, dura mater, pia mater). Skull fractures are exactly what it sounds like: the skull experiences severe trauma that causes it to fracture. These are dangerous because they can lead to damage of the brain underneath the skull. DAI is similar to a concussion, but leads to damage in pretty much all of the white matter in the brain. DAI is usually because of blunt force trauma from sports or car accidents.
Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE)
This is kind of a PSA to football players, hockey players, and people who get hit on the head a LOT, but again, I still think it’s good for everyone to be educated on CTE. CTE occurs after someone gets hit on the head and experiences TBI over and over and over again. These symptoms are kind of like post-concussion syndrome on steroids.They include personality changes, dementia, sleep disruption, and lack of coordination. CTE was first identified in boxers, but has since been recognized in players of other sports with high impact on the head. CTE is a progressive neurodegenerative disease, hence the dementia symptoms, so most people will begin experiencing it later in life.
There are a lot of ways to help prevent head injury, but they’re definitely still possible. Helmets are super helpful in football and hockey, but players still experience TBI. Even in high school. Seatbelts are another helpful preventative measure, so wear your seatbelt, please. They’re there for a reason. It would suck to start experiencing PCS within a week and CTE within years just because you decided you were too tough for a helmet or seatbelt.
Anyway, thanks for reading! Be careful around dual-edged lightsabers.
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