Can a Hit to the Jaw Cause TBI?

Eliot Roth, MD, BrainLine

MULTIMEDIA

•  The Hit That Ended Briana Scurry's Soccer Career
•  Football High: Small Hits Add Up
•  The Basic Architecture of the Brain

 

Why does a blow to the jaw cause head injury?

While the symptom threshold has improved over the four years (i.e., I can do more activity before symptoms appear), it is still a problem and a normal level of physical activity is beyond me (i.e., sailing for 30 minutes in moderate winds results in a return of symptoms). I would like to know if this is a common problem, why this might be happening, and if there is anything I can be doing to improve my exercise tolerance.

 

The blow to the jaw might move the skull with enough force that the brain “bounces” off the walls inside the skull. This creates injuries on the outer surface of the brains where the brain has hit against the skull, but also injuries deeper in the brain tissue because of “pulling and pushing” of the long nerves inside the brain.

Click here to go to About Ask the Expert.

Elliot J. Roth, MD, Elliot Roth, MD is the Paul B. Magnuson Professor and chairman of the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, and chairman of the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

http://www.brainline.org/content/2014/01/can-a-hit-to-the-jaw-cause-tbi.html?utm_source=RSS+Feed%3A+Ask+The+Expert&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+brainline%2Fask_the_expert+%28Ask+The+Expert%29