Trauma refers to direct physical injury to the brain or spinal cord.
These organs are extremely delicate, and hence are encased in the bony skull and vertebral column for their protection. A common cause of neurological trauma is automobile accidents. Men are affected by such trauma three to four times more often than women. Head injury is generally classified according to the extent to which the skull is damaged. Despite this classification scheme the prognosis of a head injury is more dependent on the severity of brain damage than on the degree to which the skull is injured.