A concussion is a brain injury. That’s exactly what health officials want all of us to understand. From infants to young adults to seniors, anyone who appears to have sustained a concussion is advised to be medically evaluated and monitored, to ensure the normal functioning of the brain.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a lack of proper diagnosis and management of concussion can result in serious long-term consequences, not the least of which is the risk of coma or death. While signs and symptoms of concussion can be noticeable immediately, they sometimes can take days or even weeks before they appear.
“It is important to understand that every concussion, no matter how mild, injures your brain,” said H. Warren Goldman, M.D., Ph.D., Director of the Cooper Neurological Institute and Chief of the Department of Neurosurgery at Cooper.
Understanding Concussion
A concussion is a mild, traumatic brain injury – a disturbance of function of the nerve cells in the brain – caused by a bump, blow or jolt to the head, or from a blow to the body that causes the head to move rapidly back and forth.
You worry about your child breaking a bone or spraining an ankle while doing a favorite sport. But your child is also at risk of concussions. Each year about 300,000 sports-related traumatic brain injuries occur in our country, and most can be classified as concussions. This number could be much higher because many concussions go undiagnosed. Concussions can occur in any sport—and all are serious injuries. Learn from R. Robert Franks, D.O., an orthopaedic physician and Assistant Director of Sports Medicine at the Cooper Bone & Joint Institute, about how to identify such an injury and what you should do. 
