Concussion is a brain injury which can be caused by any trauma to the head by a blunt instrument, and that includes the road! Basically the brain kind of “wobbles” inside the skull which can cause swelling or bruising causing concussion. Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to lose consciousness to be concussed, there are lots of other symptoms too:

• Vomiting – even if nothing actually comes up, dry heaving or an uncontrollable “gagging” can be a sign – this is generally within a few minutes of the accident.
• Headaches – can appear instantaneously or later on, some can be mild, some can be severe
• Confusion – the “where am I” syndrome. This too can appear almost immediately or a little while later.
• Fatigue – “I’ll just lie down here for a minute” – they used to say that you shouldn’t let people who are suffering from concussion go to sleep, but the American Academy of Family Physicians now recommend that they should be allowed to sleep if necessary (not on the road obviously), but awoken every couple of hours within the first 24 hour period.

It’s hardly surprising that many cycling accidents result in concussion, have you seen how fast they go? But you don’t even have to fall of at speed to cause head damage and concussion, it can happen to even the slowest of fallers.

Cycling Helmets

Have you noticed how the “serious” cyclists always wear their helmets (it’s part of the gear), most parents supply their young children with helmets, but once they get to teenage or adult, an alarming number of people just don’t bother any more. Maybe they don’t want “hat hair”. Well, you only get one head and realistically speaking, “hat hair” is a far better option than serious brain damage don’t you think? Although concussion can occur even if you are wearing a helmet, the more protection you give your head the better.

One other thing, if you do fall of your bicycle and hit your head (or hit your head without falling off your bicycle) you need to get checked out right away – the symptoms of concussion can surface much later and you never really know what damage has been done.