Head and neck injuries
Head and neck injuries encompass a range of physical trauma and neurological issues affecting the intricate structures in this region, including the brain, spinal cord, and various muscles. These injuries often result from accidents such as falls, sports-related incidents, automobile collisions, or acts of violence, and can lead to both short-term and chronic symptoms. Common manifestations include pain, bruising, whiplash, and inflammation, with potential complications such as concussions, which alter brain function without structural changes, and deep lacerations that may pose serious health risks.
The impact of head and neck injuries can be particularly severe, potentially resulting in permanent nerve damage, loss of consciousness, or even life-threatening conditions like strokes or aneurysms. Treatments vary from surgical interventions to drug therapy and the use of corrective devices. Understanding the types of injuries, their causes, and the appropriate responses is crucial for effective management and recovery. Awareness of the potential consequences, such as voice loss or respiratory challenges, further highlights the importance of prompt medical attention in these cases.
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Subject Terms
Head and neck injuries
ANATOMY OR SYSTEM AFFECTED: Bones, brain, head, muscles, musculoskeletal system, neck, nervous system, respiratory system, spine, throat
DEFINITION: Physical trauma or neurological problems affecting the head and neck, including the spinal cord
CAUSES: Injury, neurological problems
SYMPTOMS: Pain, bruising, whiplash, alignment problems, inflammation
DURATION: Short-term to chronic
TREATMENTS: Surgery, drug therapy, corrective devices
The head and neck region of the human body houses a sophisticated collection of structures including the special (structures for breathing, speaking, and eating) and the brain, stem, and cervical (neck) portion of the spinal cord. A multitude of disorders or injuries can occur in this complex region.
Trauma to the head and neck. Head or neck trauma can result from a harsh blow on the head, as can occur in a fall or with a strike from an object. These injuries are commonly seen in young, basically healthy persons who come to emergency rooms during evenings or weekends as a result of sports accidents, automobile accidents, or domestic or street violence. In the older age group, strokes and aneurysms are more common problems. Some of these accidents or events can cause permanent nerve and brain damage to the injured person.
Concussions and contusions of the head are common results of head trauma, which induces an internal neurological response. A concussion is a loss of consciousness or awareness of one’s surroundings that may last a few minutes or days. Sometimes a appears only as a moderately decreased level of awareness and not a total loss of consciousness. There is no evidence of a change in the brain’s structure but, oddly, there is a change in the way in which the brain operates so that alertness is altered. Concussion is presumably a temporary change in brain chemistry, and the damage is reversible unless repeated head blows, such as a professional boxer may experience, are endured. Concussions may occur from other trauma, such as loss of blood flow to the brain, but such is more closely associated with the more urgent threat of permanent brain damage. A is popularly referred to as a bruise. The color associated with a fresh bruise is attributable to an aggregation of blood in an area that was damaged, causing many small blood vessels to rupture and release blood into the surrounding tissue. A bruise around the eye, temple, or forehead causes a black eye.
Automobile accidents rank as one of the common causes of head and neck injury. One of the more familiar complaints after a car accident is the condition called whiplash. Whiplash is the layperson’s term for hyperextension of the neck, whereby the head is thrust backward (posteriorly) abruptly and beyond the normal range of neck motion. Hyperflexion occurs when the head is abruptly thrust in the forward (anterior) direction—sometimes as a recoil from hyperextension. The pain of originates from the damage to the anterior longitudinal along the neck region of the spinal cord. This ligament can be overly stretched or even torn as a result of a sudden snap or jerk of the neck. Furthermore, the bony vertebrae may also grind against one another after the trauma, causing additional irritation, swelling, and pain in the neck area.
One of the common troubles of a gun or knife wound to the head and neck region is superficial and deep lacerations (cuts). If left unsutured, a deep scalp wound can cause death by hemorrhage. Superficial lacerations to the face may also cause considerable bleeding; such wounds generally are not life-threatening, but they often require stitches in order to heal.
Trauma to the head and neck area can arise from spontaneous internal events such as a stroke, an embolus, or an aneurysm. Each of these conditions is serious and potentially life-threatening because of the risk of losing blood flow to the brain and other vital tissues of the head and neck region.
Neurological problems of the head and neck. Although the bony cranium offers some protection to the head, the neck is, in some regards, more vulnerable to intrusion. Breathing can be interrupted by severing the left or right nerve, each of which innervates its corresponding half of the most important muscle of breathing, the diaphragm.
The left or right may also be severed. The vagus nerves supply the sympathetic system of the and abdomen, and they also innervate the vocal cords. Severance of one of the vagus nerves causes a hoarseness of the voice as a result of the loss of function of one-half of the vocal cords. If both vagus nerves are damaged—a rare event—then the ability to speak is forever lost.
The sympathetic is another nerve at risk in the neck. Severance of this nerve leads to Horner syndrome, which consists of a group of signs including (drooping eyelids), constricted pupils, a flushed face as a result of vasodilation, and dry skin on the face and neck because of the inability to sweat.
Transection (the complete severance) of the lower cervical causes upper and lower limb paralysis and trouble with urination, and damage to the upper cervical cord can cause death because of loss of innervation to the muscles of respiration. Hemisection (partial severance) of the cervical spinal cord can also cause Horner syndrome. Damage to the spinal cord can occur from a knife or gun wound or from crushing or snapping the cord by sudden impact, as with an injury from an earthquake or an automobile accident.
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