What is a concussion?

Concussion is always a concern with a blow to the head. Walter J. Koroshetz, MD, director of the NINDS, explains how concussions occur and what symptoms to watch for, especially in kids.

Transcript

00:00

Concussion is a condition that occurs when a force, a mechanical force, enters the brain,

00:09

but it's at a level that it causes acute neurologic dysfunction. So the symptoms are this sudden change

00:17

in neurologic function, most commonly some problem with memory, some problem with executive function.

00:23

People appear a kind of fuzzy or dazed, but neurologically they're not accessing memories quickly. They're not putting things together,

00:31

making calculations in their head in a normal rapid fashion. There's usually some imbalance.

00:38

Oftentimes we see people stagger and then most people, there's a very rapid recovery that occurs

00:45

over a short period of time. That could be an hour. It could be a couple of days. The problem is that there is another thing that happens,

00:55

which we call the post concussive syndrome, and that is a much more prolonged problem. And its sleep disorder, its headache, its concentration

01:04

trouble, low mood, and so, for kids, that can really affect their ability to work in school,

01:11

for instance. And then the other issue we have is the fact that one concussion, second concussion,

01:19

the third concussion, the symptoms and the duration and their effects on life seem to build up over time.

01:28

So you can, and clearly you can see this in the professional athletes, that, you know, after the fourth or fifth concussion,