Concussions: What are they?
You have heard the term, know the stories, heard the warnings and seen them occur on the sporting field, but what actually is a concussion? Concussions are defined as a brain injury caused by a blow to the head or a violent shaking of the head and/or body. This does not mean you need to lose consciousness for a concussion to occur. The initial injury itself is to the brain and is due to the brain being pushed against the inside of the skull, some describe it as a bruising of the brain due to the impact. As well as the impact force, different speeds in which the different parts of the brain move can stretch and tear tissue due to the shearing force which can also injure the nerve tissue.