The Brain is divided into two hemispheres, the left hemisphere and the right hemisphere. The sub-divisions for these two hemispheres include the frontal lobe which is located at the front of the skull, the occipital lobe located at the back of the skull, the parietal lobe which is towards the top of your head in between your frontal and occipital lobes , and the fourth sub-division is the temporal lobe which also is located in between the frontal and occipital lobes, but is farther down about right behind the ear. Besides these divisions there also is the cerebellum which is below the occipital lobe, and the brain stem. When you get a concussion you can injure any one of these areas it is not limited to just the frontal lobe or the occipital lobe. .
I am going to talk about what you do when you see someone go down with an injury, and you suspect a concussion. The first thing you want to do is check the persons ABC's that is you need to make sure their airway is clear, they are breathing, and their blood is circulating. To do this you need to Look, Listen and Feel for breathing. To check circulation you need to check for a pulse at four places, the Carotid artery, the brachial artery, the femoral artery, and check venous return. .
After you do this you need to determine the level of consciousness of the patient. If the patient can communicate you ask them questions such as- What is your name? (refer to board). You ask them 4 questions, and if they can answer all of them then they are alert and oriented times 4 and if they can only answer three they are alert and oriented time three etc. .
The next thing you want to do is you want to rule out the possibility of a C-spine injury. Anytime you think an athlete has gone down with a concussion you need to suspect a C-spine injury. To do this you feel along all of the spinous processes along the spine, and if the patient feels any pain then you need to put them on a backboard and take them to the hospital immediately.
