Head Pain and Trauma

Head injury can be either closed or open (penetrating).

• A closed head injury means a hard blow to the head was received from striking an object, but the object did not break the skull.
• An open/penetrating head injury means a hit with an object that broke the skull and exposed and or entered the brain. This is likely to happen when moving at high speed, i.e. going through the windshield during an auto accident. Also from a gunshot to the head.

Head Pain and Trauma injuries include:

• Some head injuries cause changes in brain function. This is called a traumatic brain injury.
• Concussion, where the brain is shaken, is the most common type of traumatic brain injury. Symptoms of a concussion can range from mild to severe.
• Scalp wounds.
• Skull fractures.

Head injuries may cause bleeding:

• Inside the brain tissue
• Inside the layers that surround the brain (subarachnoid hemorrhage, subdural hematoma, extradural hematoma)