What is Traumatic Brain Injury?

Head trauma refers to any damage caused to the skull, scalp, or brain due to an injury. It may be a mild bump or bruise or maybe a traumatic brain injury. Head trauma mostly involves minor injuries that do not require specialised attention or hospitalisation. But, even minor injuries may cause persistent chronic symptoms like difficulty in concentrating, headaches, etc. Common head injuries include skull fractures, scalp wounds, concussions, etc.

Head injuries can be classified into several ways depending upon the type of injury, the severity of the trauma, and which structures in the head are damaged. These can be:

• Closed Injury: A closed injury is when the damage is caused without any breakage of the skull or penetration of the brain tissue. However, the injury can still cause brain damage like bruising or swelling even if the skull is not broken.
• Open Injury: Open injury is when the damage penetrates the skull and causes problems like skull fracture, bleeding in the brain, or pressing of bone against the brain. For instance, injuries like these may occur due to a car accident, a gunshot, etc.
• Concussion: Concussion happens when the brain is shaken. It may or may not involve a blow to the head. Concussion may result in a headache or even loss of consciousness.
• Primary Lesion: It is the direct result of initial head trauma. These injuries may include vascular damage, axonal shearing (stretched and torn nerve axons) and contusion (bruising). These injuries can damage the blood barrier and may lead to neuronal death. The main causes of these injuries include a blow to the head with an object and the brain hitting inside of the skull.
• Secondary Lesion: secondary injury is not mechanically induced and occurs due to complications arising due to primary injuries like inadequate blood flow in the brain, low blood pressure, unavailability of oxygen in the brain, or swelling in the brain. Other causes include brain abscess, free radical damage, increased levels of carbon, etc.
• Mild or Severe Injuries: As discussed above, head trauma is also classified as mild or severe. Mild injuries can occur in people of any age group. There is no permanent damage caused and the affected person may experience the following symptoms:

1. Confusion
2. Ringing in the ear
3. Mild headache
4. Nausea
5. Small cut or bump
6. Vision getting mildly blurred
7. Dizziness
8. Temporary amnesia

Causes of Head Injury

In infants and children, the most common cause of head injury can be shaking them rigorously. Not only to the infants, but violent shaking can lead to a head injury even in adults. Even heart attacks can lead to severe brain injuries. Other causes of head injury include:

• Fall
• Physical assault
• Road accidents
• Dangerous sports activity

Of all the causes mentioned, the most common are road accidents.

Symptoms of Head Injury

A clear symptom of a head injury is bleeding. But one may not always witness bleeding in all head injuries. Other symptoms of head injury (minor) include:

• Headache
• Nausea
• Sight confusion
• Head spinning
• Lightheadedness

Symptoms in case of a severe head injury may include the following:

• Seizure
• Vomiting
• Loss of consciousness
• Problem in balancing or co-ordinating body movements
• Disorientation about location, time, date, identity
• Abnormal eye movements
• Mood swings
• Coma
• Memory loss
• Fluid leakage from ear or nose
• Partial paralysis
• Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s

If anyone faces any of the symptoms listed above, then he/she must immediately consult a doctor and get treated. If not treated timely, one may witness long effects of the injury.

On the diagnosis of head trauma, the patient may require to take some time off from several normal activities and take a rest to ensure a speedy recovery.

Treatment of Head Injury

Treatment options for a head injury may vary with the severity of the injury. For minor injuries, the doctors may recommend medication. Whereas the affected person must remain alert at all times and keep monitoring other symptoms if any. In case of an emergency, the patient may require surgery in order to release pressure in the skull or to repair the damage. The patient will also need rehabilitation to get complete control after the procedure.

Health Insurance Plans That Cover Head Trauma

Critical illness insurance policies can act as a saviour for someone who is diagnosed with a life-threatening disease like head trauma. Critical illness insurance policies are meant to provide financial help by paying the entire sum insured to the insured. Apart from head trauma, a critical illness insurance policy generally covers cancer, kidney failure, multiple sclerosis, blindness, among others. In India, there are many health insurance as well as general insurance companies that offer critical illness policies for head trauma. Some popular critical illness policies that come at an affordable premium include HDFC Ergo’s (formerly known as Apollo Munich) Health Optima Vital Plan, IFFCO Tokio’s Critical Illness Insurance Policy, and Go Digit’s Critical Illness Insurance Policy, all of which can be purchased within a few clicks online at InsuranceDekho.

Why Buy Health Insurance for Head Trauma Online at InsuranceDekho?

InsuranceDekho is a preferred choice for many when it comes to buying critical illness insurance policies online. The portal offers a smooth, quick and transparent buying process that does not take much time for the customers. Apart from all these benefits, the portal offers you other benefits as well, a few of which are listed below:

• Quick issuance of critical illness insurance policy
• Multiple health insurance quotes from popular insurers for head trauma
• Flexible modes of payment are available
• Post policy purchase assistance
• Help from knowledgeable customer care executives at the time of purchasing a policy
• Assistance during filing a health insurance claim settlement
• Online premium calculator is available to get an estimate of health insurance premium even before purchasing.