Causes Injuries to the head are so common that almost everyone in their lifetime will sustain some form of trauma to the head. Learning to recognize serious head injury, and implementing basic first aid, can make the difference in saving someone's life. Medical advances in detecting and treating these injuries, however, have improved the outlook for many of these injuries. Every year, approximately two million people sustain a head injury. However, over half a million head injuries a year are severe enough to require hospitalization.
Some head injuries result in prolonged or non-reversible brain damage.
These more serious head injuries cause deficits that vary with the degree of brain injury. The signs and symptoms of a head injury may occur immediately or develop slowly over several hours. If a child begins to play or run immediately after getting a bump on the head, for example, serious injury is unlikely. However, the child should still be closely watched for the 24 hours, since symptoms of a head injury can be delayed. When encountering a victim of a head injury, try to find out what happened.