Concussions - Part 1
by Kristina Miller
Concussions: Part 1
It’s a beautiful day out and you are ready to ride! Your adrenaline is flowing as you look over the track and you can hear your bike calling you to swing a leg over and spend the day just riding. You get your gear on and all you need to do is put on the most important of all the equipment you own on, your helmet!
Your helmet has an important job it helps to protect you from major injuries and helps to limit the severity of concussions. Concussions are receiving special attention these days, and with good reason. If concussions are not dealt with in a proper manner than they can escalate into more severe injuries and can also have serious long term affects. In order to understand how to prevent and treat this injury it is important to understand what is occurring during this injury.
Concussions are defined as an injury that causes a temporary disturbance of the brain away from its normal functions. Concussions can be caused either by direct or indirect impact. Essentially your brain is sitting in a pleasant spot all nice and comfortable in your skull, but as you crash your helmet is doing its job of protecting your head from attaining a major injury even though your brain is still accelerating forward. This acceleration is a concussion. This is the major reason your helmet is so important without it the concussion experienced would be much more significant.
Related Article: Head Injuries (by Coach Seiji)
Concussions can affect everything from your physical, emotional, and cognitive state. Some of the most common symptoms of concussions include, but aren’t limited to:
- Headache
- Amnesia: which can be both retrograde (can’t remember things from before) or antegrade (can’t remember things after the event)
- Dizziness
- Disorientation
- Visual Problems: double vision or blurred vision
- Tinnitus: ringing in the ears
- Confusion
- Nausea/Vomiting
- Loss of Consciousness
Not all of these symptoms may necessarily occur; some can be dependent on the level of concussion sustained. There are three levels or grades of concussions. The components that make up each grade can vary depending on what type of concussion grading scale you choose to use. There are three grading scales that are more commonly used and they are the Cantu scale, Colorado Medical Society scale, and the American Academy of Neurology scale.
| Grade 1 | Grade 2 | Grade 3 | |
| Cantu Scale | Amnesia <30 minutes, No Loss of Consciousness | Loss of Consciousness <5 min or Amnesia lasting 30min-24 hrs | Loss of Consciousness > 5min or Amnesia > 24hrs |
| Colorado Medical Society Scale | Confusion, No Loss of Consciousness | Confusion, Amnesia, No Loss of Consciousness | Any Loss of Consciousness |
| American Academy of Neurology Scale | Confusion, Symptoms last <15 min, No Loss of Consciousness | Symptoms last >15min, No Loss of Consciousness |
Any Loss of Consciousness either seconds (brief) or minutes (lengthy) |
Keep in mind that if you are going to abide by one of these three scales you have to adhere to their scale for each grade. There is no picking or choosing of which scale to abide by per grade. You can’t pick and choose separate guidelines for each grade of concussion. There is no one scale that is better than the other, but make sure you read up on each scale on your own time as well and decide for yourself which one you want to follow.
Understandably, when you go out to the track you may not bring a concussion grading scale, but you still need to know how to assess someone for a possible concussion. Here is an acronym that will help you OMIT
- O is for Orientation: simply ask them who they are and where they are
- M is for Memory: here is where you can assess for the amnesia. ask them if they know what happened (ask them if they can remember what happened before and/or after the injury); also give them three unrelated items to remember and see if they can repeat them back to you (try this several times)
- I is for Intelligence: have them count backwards from 100 by 5’s or have them say the months in order in reverse (make sure you can do it as well so you know they are right)
- T is for Talkative: listen to see if they are talking differently from their norm like slurring
Lastly, you want to note their balance. Make note to if they can stand up on their own, and walk in a straight line; while attempting this do they become dizzy or light headed?
Well that is all I am covering on concussions for now. Take the time to read up on concussions and familiarize yourself with ways of recognizing them. You can save yourself from much larger injuries just by educating yourself on this topic. In part two, I will cover treatment and injuries that can occur if you don’t treat concussions properly as well as prevention of these injuries.
Sources:
Arnheim’s Principles of Athletic Training by William E. Prentice
Chart was found through Wikipedia.com/concussions
Kristina's other articles - Get Your Drink On
About the Author:
Kristina Miller is a senior at West Virginia University (The home of Racer X). She is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in both athletic training and sports and exercise psychology. Her future aspirations are to apply both of these degrees to the sport of motocross. She has been interested in motocross for over three years and hopes to use her love of motocross and turn it into a career working behind the scenes in sports medicine. That's all we really know about the girl - Virtual Trainer
That's it for now, until next time, good luck with your training and remember, if you have a question, log on to the Virtual Trainer Expert Forum and have your question answered by a panel of experts. In addition, be sure and check out the Racer X Virtual Trainer archive section. Your complete one-stop information zone for motocross fitness. 
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A couple years back I received a serious concussion and brain injury in a car accident. It's serious stuff, which will affect you for a long time.
I still to this day have issues with riding. Everyone please get a high quality helmet, and take the right amount of time off the bike when you receive a concussion.
Is there any link between multiple concussions and depression?
Great advice, Kylie. Sorry to hear you are still having issues.
Jamey, there is research indicating thatconcussions can lead to depression and sleep trouble later in life.
There is a link a between concussions and depression. You need to remember that concussion impacts can occur against any part of the brain, and also that each one is easier to get versus the previous one. It isn't uncommon for people to become very emotional after the sustain a concussion so it is quite possible to have depression correlated with concussions.
Ive hit my head lots of times and prolly had a serious concussion a couple of time but didnt know bout it. But now everytime i crash kind of hard i black out from the time before i hit the ground till i get up. I really have a bad head now which isnt good.
Ray, that really isn't good. Each time you get one concussion the next one is much easier to get. I would be very cautious especially since you are blacking out so much. Might warrant being checked out by a doctor just to make sure. Just my opinion though.
Ray....go see a doctor. Seriously, this i not an issue to play around with.