What Are the Causes of Head Trauma?

When people express concern about head trauma, they are usually talking about brain injuries. Brain injuries can range from mild to severe. They can result in nothing more than a bad headache or can affect a person's ability to walk, talk or think clearly. There are several ways a person can suffer a brain injury.

Types of Injury

• According to the National Institutes of Health, the most common form of brain injury is concussion, which occurs when the brain is shaken within the skull. The brain can also develop a bruise, or contusion, from an injury. Bleeding in or around the brain are also forms of brain injury, called intracranial hemorrhage and subarachnoid hemorrhage, respectively. According to the National Institutes of Health, the most deadly of all head trauma is the subdural hematoma, which causes blood to pool on the surface of the brain and increases pressure inside the brain cavity.

Falls

• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) lists falling as the number one cause of brain injury. Twenty-eight percent of brain injuries that required medical attention were caused by falls. It is important to keep in mind that this statistic primarily reflects falls by children under the age of 4 and adults over the age of 75. Both age groups may have difficulty with balance and walking.

Motor Vehicle Accidents

• For young men between the ages of 15 and 19, motor vehicle accidents are the number one cause of traumatic brain injury (TBI). Overall, it is the second leading cause of brain injury, according to the CDC. Car or motorcycle accidents can cause many of the different types of brain injury, but it can particularly cause severe concussion because of the back and forth motion of the head associated with a car rapidly decelerating or crashing. A person who has been in a car accident may not be bleeding, but may still have a very serious brain injury.

Sports

• Sports-related head injuries fall into a category that the CDC calls "struck by/against events." These types of injuries are the third leading cause of traumatic brain injury in the United States. These injuries occur when someone is struck by something (for example, a baseball or baseball bat), or comes up against something that causes the head to hit or snap back (such as another football player or the ground). According to the CDC, sports and recreation events produce almost 4 million head injuries per year, although most of these are mild and do not require hospitalization.

Physical Violence

• Eleven percent of all traumatic brain injuries are caused by assault or physical violence. According to the CDC, firearm-related assault is the leading cause of death by brain injury in the United States. The CDC says that 9 out of 10 people who suffer a firearm-related brain injury will die. It is important to note that self-assault (suicide) is included in this statistic.