this post was submitted on 20 Nov 2024
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[–] [email protected] 33 points 3 days ago (10 children)

Everyone always laughs at hitting someone in the head with a punch/can of beans/baseball bat/2x4/karate chop/whatever and knock them out. The joke being that the person will wake in ten minutes or an hour like in the movies and they'll go about living again.

In real life if you knock someone out cold with some kind of hit to their head ... you've more than likely killed them or put them in a place where they will die within the next hour or two.

[–] [email protected] 139 points 3 days ago (26 children)

That is... Incorrect, there is about a 30% death rate within one year of brain trauma but there is absolutely no data showing that someone is going to die within an hour of being knocked unconscious more often than not, especially if they are young

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[–] [email protected] 60 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Being knocked out is certainly not good, but it's not automatic death like you're suggesting.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

Depends where you hit and how hard. It's the emergency shutdown because of concussion. If the concussion was too hard, it can swell and then it gets dangerous. Not to mention fragile places like temple or neck.

Wdit: concussion, not convulsion

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 days ago

I don't think the word convulsion means what you think it means. Do you mean concussion? Concussion is only one type of head injury, though, with different grades to it.

[–] [email protected] 29 points 3 days ago (4 children)

False LMFAO.

Source: semi pro snowboarder who’s been knocked out many times

[–] [email protected] 19 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

Being knocked out is literally one step before dead and can have serious aftereffects like parts of your swollen brain dying because there's too less space for a swollen brain in your skull.

I too was once knocked out as a child and barfed 3 days afterwards with memory loss.

Take care of yourself.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 3 days ago (1 children)

It is not one step before death. Holy shit are you being dramatic.

I had a TBI as a result of a double impact - minor concussion where I didn’t pass out skateboarding (and didn’t know it), then the next day friendly fire collision with a friend in the park snowboarding. I was knocked out for five minutes, had an out of body experience, came to very aggressively with a permanent change of personality that persists to this day half a lifetime later. That being said I was nowhere near death, had a I been knocked out into a coma things would be different.

TBIs are nothing to mess with, they change you for life. ADHD like symptoms, mental health struggles, aggression and explosive anger, memory loss, gaslighting from medical professionals about the severity of the injury (the 2000s were rough…) and opening yourself up to abuse by future significant others because you don’t trust your own memory. Never mind the struggle to maintain employment or how TBIs are invisible disabilities that are tough to get workplace accommodations for.

TBIs are serious, even when they are ‘mild’ (a complete misnomer). But being knocked out ≠ being knocked into a coma which is one step from death. Nor does it mean you’re having a brain bleed. Your brain is inflamed and it’s key not to impact it again for a ~month while the inflammation recedes. Because I had a double impact I ended up permanently damaged. I worry about CTE and dementia later in life as I’ve had other hits to the head since, including getting knocked out momentarily while riding for work.

FYI in case anyone asks - yes I wear a helmet and was wearing one the day of my TBI. Helmets don’t prevent concussions at all, they prevent skull fractures, punctures and lacerations. The helmet saved my life because it prevented skull fracture but more importantly laceration, as my friend collided into my head with the edge of her board first.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 3 days ago (2 children)

I agree it's not one step before death, but as you elaborated, what it effectively is, is brain damage, which is always something that needs to be taken seriously. I.e. if someone is knocked-out, it's not something that can be ignored as in "ha ha, they'll be ok in a couple of minutes"

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Most of the time minor concussions that involving being knocked out for a couple minutes or less usually don’t result in lasting brain damage although there is a risk. It’s the double impact - getting hit while the brain is inflamed from the first impact - that leads to the serious problems involving brain damage that I’ve experienced.

A kid getting knocked out for a few moments in a soccer game and then taken out of sports for a couple weeks is gonna see their grades drop in school for a month or so and have recurring headaches and mild memory and focus issues but they won’t be lasting and within a month the effects go away and are not life long. Now if they don’t get pulled out of the game and keep playing and sustain another hard hit they’re in trouble.

That’s what you’re seeing with the pro footballers and boxers and CTE when they hit their late 30s and 40s.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Yes, which is why any such injury must be taken seriously (and most medics do so), which is my point.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

My point is the severity of head injuries ranges from get an ice pack, Tylenol and some rest to get a helicopter this person isn’t gonna make it much longer. And then everything in between. The initial comment of one step from death! is dramatic as hell which is why I made the comments I made from experience.

Most concussions are minor with no lasting effects.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 days ago

And my point is that you don't know how dangerous a concussion is going to be without monitoring which is why every concussion needs to be taken seriously!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Yeah, but the point of the thread is it’s not an automatic death sentence.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago

While true, Hollywood has done almost irreparable damage to this effect, so maybe some extra scare won't be too bad.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 days ago (2 children)

You're actually dead and died in that second knock out .... this is purgatory and you'll be commenting like this for a few thousand years.

I'm no scientist, doctor or medical professional ... I just know that its dangerous to try to knock someone's noggin really hard to try to make them pass out. Dangerous to the point that there is a good chance that it can kill someone.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago

Fuck! Nobody told me!!!!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago

Professional boxing keeps a running tally of wins via KO, if death by punch was that common I suspect it would be banned as a sport by now.

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[–] [email protected] 32 points 3 days ago

~~Skill~~ Skull issue

[–] [email protected] 25 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

And even if you haven't killed them outright, they can have permanent disabilities.

If you, or someone you know, gets knocked out, or experiences other symptoms of a central nervous system trauma after a hit to the head, please seek medical care immediately. It's not one those "take two aspirin and let's see how it goes in the morning" kinda things.

I'm just one person, but during my life I've seen this multiple times. I will refrain from boring you, and doxxing myself, by telling my anecdotes. Suffice it to say that I have known people who would have been dead if they hadn't gone to work with a "bad hangover", or ended up with narcolepsy or chronic encephalopathy. And that was separate people BTW.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 3 days ago

You're going too far in the opposite direction

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

To market, to market went my Uncle Jim
When somebody threw a tomato at him.
Tomatoes are soft and they won't bruise the skin,
But this one killed Jim, it was wrapped in a tin.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 days ago

Relax, it's just another made up story.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 days ago (2 children)

She just stole a loaf of bread. Her sister's child was close to death, she was starving.

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[–] ulterno 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)

So I once slipped on a puddle while jogging (in the wrong place) and hit the back of my head on sedimentary tiles.
Since I had stiffened my neck, trying to stretch it backward (yes I was doing that while jogging on wet tiles), my head hit the ground hard.
After about 2 minutes, I fainted for ~10 seconds. Was fine later.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 days ago (1 children)

That's the problem with anecdotal evidence. You can always find that one person who fulfills the criteria but who's outcome doesn't match.

Of course you can be fine afterwards. But there's a considerable risk that you're not, and experiencing symptoms of a traumatic head injury does warrant a visit to the hospital.

[–] ulterno 10 points 3 days ago

Of course I visited the hospital for a CT scan.

Of course I'm not telling you to hit your head for fun.

This is just a fun story, not evidence for anything.

People have survived failed parachutes. Doesn't mean we can all be Alex Mercer.