Children are mobile creatures, who care little about their own safety and do not have a developed sense of self-preservation. Therefore, various injuries can haunt the child constantly. It also happens that as a result of an incident, a child has signs of a concussion. In children, such symptoms require a mandatory appeal to a medical organization for medical help.
Child's body
Childhood is a time of active changes in the body, because a person needs to grow from a newborn baby, turning into an adult. Activity and curiosity are the main features of a growing personality. Moreover, this is characteristic of both a baby who is starting to crawl and walk, and a teenager who considers himself to be a completely adult and independent teenager. And it often happens that a concussion of the brain becomes a consequence of a child's worldview. The child is 2 years old or 12 years old, it doesn't matter ifhead injury in any case requires the consultation of a medical specialist.
Concussion as an injury
Blows, unintentional sudden movements of the head in most cases lead to a concussion. This phrase is called the easiest, if I may say so, form of injury to this most important organ, which precedes a bruise. However, concussion is also divided by specialists into several degrees:
- mild degree - no loss of consciousness, slight lethargy, the child may experience nausea, after 20-30 minutes the condition returns to normal;
- medium degree - there may be loss of consciousness for a short time, the child periodically feels sick and vomits, you can see external signs of injury - a trace of a blow, a hematoma; he alth status may return to normal after a few hours;
- severe degree - sufficient prolonged loss of consciousness or disorientation in space, paroxysmal vomiting and nausea, severe headaches; mandatory hospitalization and round-the-clock supervision of medical staff are indicated.
They are characterized mainly by the time of loss of consciousness during trauma, as well as the severity of symptoms and consequences. So, for example, a concussion in a one-year-old child is diagnosed precisely by external signs, since the baby still cannot tell about his condition on his own.
Concussion itself is a small contact of gray matter, surrounded by cerebrospinal fluid, with the hard walls of the skull. This occurs with sudden movements of the head: falls,clashes. Stronger contact of the brain with the bones of the skull is called a bruise. It is noteworthy that with this form of traumatic brain injury, pathomorphological changes can be detected only at the cellular and subcellular levels, but external, let's say, signs are diagnosed as a result of a concussion.
What should alert?
The first signs of a concussion in a child may not alert parents if they did not see the very moment of the injury, and the child either cannot tell on his own, or hides it. But sudden lethargy, drowsiness, nausea or vomiting should alert and force parents to contact a specialist with their child who can determine the extent of the injury. Signs of a concussion in children may be mild, not in a complex, but as if separately, but in any case, an examination of the child and a doctor's consultation will not be superfluous.
How does concussion manifest in infants and young children?
It would seem, how can a concussion happen in an infant? Symptoms of the problem indicate brain damage associated with a blow, bruise. But the baby is quite harsh, rough treatment, when the concussion is defined as "shaking syndrome." Parents may not be aware that the child received a mild form of craniocerebral damage, writing off crying, whims, refusal to eat, regurgitation, drowsiness for other reasons. A child who cannottalk and explain what is bothering him, in the absence of pronounced manifestations of concussion, such as loss of consciousness, open wounds, he can only behave differently than usual for a few days. This is what should be the reason for going to the pediatrician.
As for older kids, they may not report a head injury due to fear or punishment from the parents themselves, or having received threats from the person who indirectly or directly caused the traumatic brain injury. Therefore, a change in the behavior of the child, as well as bouts of nausea and vomiting, complaints of headaches require an appointment with a specialist who can determine the cause of the ailment and prescribe a treatment that is adequate to the situation.
Teen has a problem
A concussion in a child in their teens can also be one of the he alth problems. After all, children are curious, they do not think about their safety, and extreme hobbies, one might say, are simply boiling in the blood of teenagers. Such a craniocerebral injury manifests itself, depending on the severity, with the following symptoms: nausea, frequent vomiting, loss of consciousness and disorientation, headache, external signs of head trauma. Unfortunately, adolescents can often hide from their parents the incident that happened to them, and therefore the period of the problem can pass without medical supervision, but if the injury is severe enough, then its consequences can be quite unfavorable for he althchild. An attentive attitude on the part of adults to a teenager, a trusting relationship between a child and parents will help to cope with any difficult situation correctly, without fear of punishment and misunderstanding.
Medical aspects of the problem
Degrees of concussion in children can be different, only a specialist can determine the quality of the injury. Modern neurology, unfortunately. recognizes the fact that today it is quite problematic to diagnose a concussion with absolute accuracy. This is associated with the non-specificity of the result of the injury, since the signs that appear with a concussion serve as indicators of a number of he alth problems. Many experts start from the fact that a concussion is made as a diagnosis by the method of differentiation, that is, a gradual exclusion from the list of potential problems similar in manifestations of pathologies. As a result, a concussion of a certain severity is diagnosed.
Tranio-cerebral injury can manifest itself as separate, single symptoms, as well as their complex. In addition, an uncharacteristic symptom may appear - temperature during concussion in children. This is associated more with the body's reaction to a traumatic situation than with the development of the inflammatory process. Although a brain contusion, the appearance of a hematoma and the lack of adequate treatment can cause inflammation at the site of injury to the skull.
Urgent measures at home
Any symptoms of a concussion in children require a visit to a specialist for advice and a thorough examination. Whatever the reason for the deterioration of well-being, the child needs to receive high-quality therapy. If parents or other adults saw the fact of injury, or the child was able to talk about what happened, you must first do the following:
- call an ambulance, explaining the situation;
- put baby on a flat surface;
- calm the victim emotionally without resorting to special medications, even seemingly harmless ones like valerian;
- apply something cool to the injury site, such as a towel soaked in cold water, to reduce the risk of complications - the development of edema and bruising;
- if necessary, treat open wounds and abrasions with special means, such as Chlorhexidine.
A concussion in a baby is accompanied by crying, as the baby cannot talk about what is bothering him and what happened. And if there was no clearly perceived moment of injury, for example, the child did not fall off the changing table, but there was rough handling of the baby, for example, a sharp shaking, then parents should assume a potential danger of concussion in the baby and also call an ambulance.
It is not necessary, if a brain injury is suspected, to give the child any medication, even symptomatic, to eliminate nauseafor example, without consulting a doctor.
Principles of diagnosis
Diagnosis of concussion in children is a whole range of activities that work both to identify the cause of deterioration of he alth, and to identify the depth and extent of the injury. To do this, the specialist uses a survey of either the child himself or adult relatives, an external examination, the appointment of generally accepted tests - the baby needs to give urine and blood to determine the inflammatory process, for example, which can cause the disease. Then MRI, CT, X-ray examination are prescribed. Which of the methods of examining a child to choose in each individual case, the specialist decides depending on the situation.
An informative method for diagnosing traumatic brain injury, as well as congenital pathologies - electroencephalography. It allows you to identify the electrical activity of brain cells and draw conclusions about the pathological processes occurring in a particular area of the organ. Also, in establishing the fact and extent of brain trauma in infants, neurosonography is used, in which the brain of the baby is examined by ultrasound examination through an area of the skull that is not protected by bone tissue - the fontanelle. But ultrasound encephalography allows you to literally "see" the state of the brain on the monitor screen - tumors, hematomas, injured areas.
Waystreatment
Mild concussion in children most often does not require hospitalization. The treatment of such an injury is carried out on an outpatient basis, but the child must be provided with maximum peace, both physical and psycho-emotional. More severe forms of brain injury will require hospitalization, where the patient will be prescribed both additional examination methods and appropriate treatment, which may include a whole range of medications:
- anti-allergenic drugs (such as "Fenkarol");
- vitamins;
- diuretics;
- nootropics;
- pain medications;
- sedatives.
Some symptoms of concussion in children may require appropriate treatment. For example, vomiting can be controlled with anti-emetics and fluid management. In the hospital, a small patient should also be provided with peace.
The entire period of treatment, the child is required to comply with bed rest - this is the main guarantee of successful treatment of concussion of any severity. Unfortunately, medicine today cannot guarantee that any disturbances in the activity of the central nervous system that may occur in later life are not the result of an experienced injury to the craniocerebral structure. Therefore, the more carefully all the recommendations of the treating specialist are followed, the better the result of therapy will be.
Rehabilitation period
A concussion in a child is a form of traumatic brain injury that can occur for the most seemingly harmless reason. For a baby, for example, a strong shake during rough handling is enough to get such a problem. Diagnosis of a concussion depends on its external manifestations, because a mild form of injury may not make itself felt after a couple of tens of minutes. And if the parents are not too attentive to the baby, and the fact of the injury was not visually indicated and recorded, then it may happen that no one can even guess about him, writing off the crying and spitting up of the baby for digestive problems.
An older child or teenager may also hide the injury for some reason, and a mild form of concussion may present with only weakness and slight nausea. Naturally, adults, noticing changes in the condition of a small person, should in any case show the child to a specialist, especially if the brain injury was quite serious and was manifested by loss of consciousness, disorientation, nausea and vomiting. In addition to the therapy itself, which contributes to the normalization of brain function, the rehabilitation of the child after an injury is important.
All activities that need to be provided to a small patient who has suffered a brain injury must be prescribed by a doctor or agreed with him. It is necessary to provide a daily regimen appropriate for the age of the child, high-quality nutritious nutrition, observe a sparing regimen of physical activity for a certain period of time and,of course, avoid re-traumatization. External signs of concussion in children may disappear within a few days, but changes at the cellular level can persist for a long time and lead to he alth problems even after years. Unfortunately, modern diagnostics are not yet able to detect such changes and prevent their consequences with a 100% guarantee.
Avoid future problems
Modernity is full of risks of trauma. This is especially true for children of any age: babies are curious and restless, older children are inquisitive and do not have a developed sense of self-preservation, adolescents have a sense of their invulnerability. That is why children's traumatism occupies the first positions among the problems of medicine. Signs of a concussion in children may be subtle if the traumatic brain injury is mild. But even if the child feels relatively well after a blow, fall, collision with any object, it is necessary to show him to the doctor, undergo the necessary examinations and receive adequate treatment and rehabilitation measures. A concussion can pass in a matter of days, but manifest itself years later with disorders in the functioning of the nervous system.
