What Happens When Someone Is Knocked Unconscious (2024)

FAQs

What happens if you get knocked unconscious? ›

Roughly 75–90% of people that are knocked out will recover fully within a couple of months. However, more severe injuries can lead to long-term damage to the brain that affects memory and can cause paralysis, seizures, and other behavioral or cognitive changes.

Bend the top leg so both hip and knee are at right angles. Gently tilt their head back to keep the airway open. If breathing or pulse stops at any time, roll the person onto their back and begin CPR. If you think there is a spinal injury, leave the person where you found them (as long as breathing continues).

Call 999 for an ambulance if someone has injured their head and has: been knocked out and hasn't woken up. problems staying awake. problems with understanding, speaking, writing, walking or balance.

The unconscious person may still feel pain as they did when they were awake. For this reason pain medication will continue to be administered but perhaps by another method such as the subcutaneous route (through a butterfly clip in the stomach, arm or leg).

If an unconscious casualty is left on their back, their tongue may fall back and block the airway. An unconscious casualty is still breathing and has a pulse, but may not respond to gentle shouting and stimulation. They look like they are in a deep sleep, but cannot be woken up.

Twenty-five percent of all unconscious patients can hear, understand, and emotionally respond to what is happening in their external environment. However, because of their medical condition, they are incapable of moving or communicating their awareness.

Periods of brief unconsciousness may be associated with concussion. Unconsciousness lasting longer than 30 minutes is thought to indicate a more serious form of brain injury than concussion.

You won't slip into a coma or die if you go to sleep after getting a concussion. It's safe for a concussed person to sleep if they are awake and can hold a conversation and they don't have obvious concussion symptoms. You'll likely want to allow for plenty of sleep so the body's natural healing process can begin.

During periods of unconsciousness, patients lose their protective reflexes and sensory responses, rendering them vulnerable to aspiration, anoxic brain injuries, airway obstruction, and skin ulcerations.

What causes a person to be knocked unconscious? ›

Unconsciousness can be caused by nearly any major illness or injury. It can also be caused by substance (drug) and alcohol use. Choking on an object can result in unconsciousness as well. Brief unconsciousness (or fainting) is often a result from dehydration, low blood sugar, or temporary low blood pressure.

It depends on the severity of the injury. If you lose consciousness briefly, and suffer a concussion, 75 to 90 percent of people will fully recover in a few months. But severe damage to the brain can cause unconsciousness for days, weeks, or even longer.

a typical knockout, which results in a sustained (three seconds or more) loss of consciousness (comparable to general anesthesia, in that the recipient emerges and has lost memory of the event).

Only 11lbs of pressure placed on both carotid arteries for 10 seconds is necessary to cause unconsciousness. 4.4lbs of pressure placed on the jugular for 10 seconds is necessary to cause unconsciousness. 33lbs of pressure on the trachea is required to completely close it off.

Unconsciousness is an unresponsive state. A person who is unconscious may seem like they are sleeping but may not respond to things like loud noises, being touched, or being shaken. Fainting is a type of unconsciousness that happens suddenly and may only last a few seconds.

a typical knockout, which results in a sustained (three seconds or more) loss of consciousness (comparable to general anesthesia, in that the recipient emerges and has lost memory of the event).

A big movement of the brain (called jarring) in any direction can cause a person to lose alertness (become unconscious). How long the person stays unconscious may be a sign of how bad the concussion is. Concussions do not always lead to loss of consciousness. Most people never pass out.