Remember the old days of professional football? A player who acted a little woozy after taking a shot to the head was said to have “had his bell rung.” He stayed on the sidelines for a while and then went back into the game.

No longer. From the National Football League on down, football teams treat head injuries seriously. Concussions now often sideline players for a week or more. They have ended the careers of some high-profile players. Evidence is mounting about the connection between multiple concussions and neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis and even the risk of drug and alcohol addiction.

You wouldn’t want something like that to happen to a member of your work team, so it pays to learn more about the implications of head injuries and the precautions you should take if one of your people experiences head trauma.

 

What happens?

A jolt to the head can impede the brain’s normal function. The effects of even a so-called “mild concussion” can be serious. Some people who experience a concussion are unconscious for a short time. Others are only dazed or confused.

Some people may show concussion symptoms on the spot. In others, symptoms may not appear until days or weeks later. The signs can be so subtle family members and even doctors may not notice them, according to an article on the website of the Brain Injury Resource Center (www.braininjury.com).

People with mild head injuries usually recover fully, but symptoms can linger for days, weeks or longer. Older people recover more slowly, and so may people who have had one or more concussions before.

 

Getting care

If one of your employees sustains a concussion, he or she needs to see a doctor. Treatment may involve nothing more than an office visit, or it may require an overnight hospital stay. A doctor may recommend a CT scan of the brain or do other tests to confirm a diagnosis.

Before sending the person home, a doctor will issue follow-up care instructions. For example, the doctor may ask someone to wake the person up every few hours during the first night. The patient should let the doctor know if he or she is taking any medications, including prescription, over-the-counter or natural remedies. In particular, doctors need to know if the person is on anticoagulant drugs (blood thinners) or aspirin, since these can raise the risk of complications.

 

Watching for danger

While it’s rare, a concussion can lead to the formation of a blood clot that crowds the brain against the skull. A person who experiences headaches that get worse, weakness, numbness, loss of coordination or repeated vomiting should be taken to a hospital emergency department. Similarly, a caregiver should take a person to the emergency room who can’t be awakened, has one pupil bigger than the other, has convulsions, seizures or slurred speech, or who becomes increasingly confused, restless or agitated.

 

Recovery phase

People vary in how quickly they recover from a brain injury. Recovery time depends on factors that include the severity of the injury, what part of the brain was injured, and how healthy the person was before the injury.

Recovery may take longer for people who already had a medical problem or for people suffering from anxiety or depression. In all cases, rest is important because it allows time for the brain to heal. The person should go back to the daily routine at his or her own pace.

While healing, the person should guard against doing anything that could cause another impact to the head. Rarely, in what is known as “second impact syndrome,” another concussion before a brain injury has healed can be fatal.

Even after healed, people should protect themselves against another concussion. Repeated brain injuries can cause serious health problems later in life, including trouble concentrating, loss of memory and loss of physical coordination.

As an employer, the best thing you can do is train your people to avoid head injuries on the job, design workplaces that limit the risk of such, issue appropriate protective headgear and make sure employees wear it when needed.