 Head Injury 
Head injuries can range from a minor bump on the head to a devastating brain injury. Learning to recognize a serious head injury, and implementing basic first aid, can make the difference in saving someone's life. Common causes of head injury include traffic accidents, falls, physical assault, and accidents at home, work, outdoors, or while playing sports. Traumatic brain injury is sudden physical damage to the brain. The head forcefully hitting an object, a closed head injury, may cause the damage or by something passing through the skull and piercing the brain, like a gunshot wound, penetrating head injury. The major cause of traumatic brain injury is from motor vehicle accidents. Other causes include falls, sports injuries, violent crimes, and child abuse.    Head Injury closed head trauma.com Head Trauma, Drunk, or Just Stupid (PDF) Head Trauma Treatment Program | Rule 64: Avoid Head Injuries What's the one part of the human body that doesn't heal quickly (or at all) if injured? Forty to fifty percent of brain injuries occur in vehicular mishaps and even in cases of minor injuries, the long term effects can be permanent and life-altering. For kids, 20% of head injuries result from cycling accidents. Legs, arms, ribs, and many other "parts" can heal, but quite often, brains don't, at least not in the way we want them to. If a head injury is classified as "minor," most victims fully recover in 3 to 4 months (still, some don't). For moderate head injuries, recovery more likely takes 6 to 9 months. If the injury is severe, recovery for "most" victims is much less likely at all. According to Headway, an association for brain injuiries in the United Kingdom, long term -- and even permanent -- effects for any level of brain injury can include: loss of sensations reduced perception, recognition and judgment loss of initiative slowed responses inappropriate behavior inability to concentrate personality changes physical disabilities and loss of basic motor skills poor memory poor cognitive and communication skills
Head and Brain Injuries 
Clinical Guideline for Trauma Patients with Head Injury 
Head injury can be classified as either closed or penetrating. In closed head injury, the head sustains a blunt force by striking against an object. In penetrating head injuries, a high velocity object breaks through the skull and enters the brain. The signs and symptoms of a head injury may occur immediately or develop slowly over several hours. Nonaccidental Head Injury in Infants THE ANATOMY OF A HEAD INJURY Trauma, Emergency, and Intensive Care Neurosurgery Index Concussion Dementia in Head Injury Types of Open Head Injuries
The following are terms used to describe types of skull fractures that can occur with open head injuries:
Depressed Skull Fracture - The broken piece of skull bone moves in towards the brain
Compound Skull Fracture - The scalp is cut and the skull is fractured
Basilar Skull Fracture
- The skull fracture is located at the base of the skull (neck area) and may include the opening at the base of the skull
- Can cause damage to the nerves and blood vessels that pass through the opening at the base of the skull
Battle's Sign
- The skull fracture is located at the ear's petrous bone.
- This produces large "black and blue mark" looking areas below the ear, on the jaw and neck.
- It may include damage to the nerve for hearing.
- Blood or cerebral spinal fluid may leak out of the ear. This is termed "CSF Oterrhea".
Racoon Eyes
- The skull fracture is located in the anterior cranial fossa.
- This produces "black and blue" mark looking areas around the eyes.
- Cerebral spinal fluid may leak into the sinuses. This is termed "CSF Rhinorrhea".
- Nerve damage for the sense of smell or eye functions may occur.
Diastatic Skull Fracture
- The skull of infants and children are not completely solid until they grow older.
- The skull is composed of jigsaw-like segments (cranial fissures) which are connected together by cranial sutures.
- Skull fractures that separate the cranial sutures in children prior to the closing of the cranial fissures are termed "diastatic skull fractures".
Cribiform Plate Fracture
- The cribiform plate is a thin structure located behind the nose area.
- If the cribiform plate is fractured, cerebral spinal fluid can leak from the brain area out the nose.
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