Often, we hear the words knockout and concussion used improperly.
They are not the same, and — as a fighter — it is important for you to understand what these words mean. Your continued good health may depend upon it.
Please don’t try to diagnose your head injury by reading articles on the internet. If you get rocked by a punch, see a doctor immediately. Just because you didn’t get knocked unconscious doesn’t mean you are not injured.
What causes a knockout?
The brainstem joins the spinal cord at the base of the skull.
But this doesn’t tell us why some people get knocked out cold — unconscious — and other don’t.
When someone is hit in a way that causes knockout, their skull is violently jerked around by the blow. The brain’s inertia causes it to smash against the inside of the skull, near the base of the skull.
Areas of the brain — usually the brainstem or cerebellum — bang against the skull resulting in a loss of consciousness and/or motor control.
Although this can be a serious injury, other times it seems fairly benign. Some people liken it to getting hit in the elbow’s funny bone. That is, it’s a temporary trauma to the nerves near the base of the skull.
In how to take a punch, I describe how some folks believe that there are several ways you can increase your ability to resist knockout.
Nevertheless, if you’re not knocked out by a blow, that doesn’t mean you haven’t suffered a brain injury or a concussion.
What is a concussion?
Concussion is a bruise on the brain.
Simply put, a concussion is a bruise on the brain.
The dangerous thing about concussion is that you can suffer this injury without suffering a knockout. This is especially bad for boxers because it makes it difficult to detect brain injury unless you’re familiar with the symptoms of concussion.
Most boxers are required to abstain from boxing for a minimum of 30 days after suffering a knockout. But since concussion doesn’t always involve loss of consciousness, boxers might not adhere to this mandatory recovery period.
In the worst cases, concussion causes swelling of the brain which ends up causing more brain damage than the original injury. This can lead to permanent brain damage or even death.
Symptoms of concussion
According to the Mayo clinic, symptoms of concussion can be divided into two groups: those that appear immediately after trauma, and those that may appear days after the injury.
Symptoms that may appear quickly after injury:
- Confusion
- Amnesia
- Headache
- Dizziness
- Ringing in the ears
- Nausea or vomiting
- Slurred speech
- Fatigue
Symptoms that may appear later:
- Memory or concentration problems
- Sensitivity to light and noise
- Sleep disturbances
- Irritability
- Depression
Learn how to use protective equipment when you spar and fight. It doesn’t make you a tough guy to take blows to the head, it just puts you at risk of a life-altering injury.
Learn more about concussion symptoms, and facts about traumatic brain injury from the US Centers for Disease Control: Concussion Discussion.
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