I know in movies and especially on my favourite show “Prisoner” (“Cell Block H”), as soon as anyone is hit on the head, they instantly get knocked unconscious.
I’ve bumped my head a few times, but never hot hit there and while the bump hurt it didn’t knocke me out. My brother had a whole garage door fall on his head and nothing happened. We took him to the ER and they said he was fine, outside of the pain, which was done with the next day.
So how accurate is that old movie/TV portrayal, of getting hit on the head and getting knocked out?
It does indeed depend on where you get hit. A blow to the sweet spot on the chin, a/k/a “the button,” can result in instant knockout, as can a rabbit punch to the back of the head, which is dangerous and illegal in combat sports. There was a pretty funny/disturbing clip from the reality show “The Ultimate Fighter” recently where a contestant insisted he couldn’t be knocked out and begged another contestant to try. Turns out he could be.
I’ve hit my head on a door frame while jumping over my dog and knocked myself out for few seconds and boxers get KOed. Here is one from UFC. YouTube seems to be full of em.
Where exactly does the rabbit punch have to connect to cause a knockout?
A few years ago, I slipped backwards at a waterpark and landed directly on the backmost portion of my skull on a hard surface. My shoulder blades might have touched first, but only by a split second if at all. Essentially, I went from vertical to horizontal instantly … my feet came out from under me completely and with great speed.
Anyway, this particular blow to the head did not knock me out at all. I saw a flash of white when my head hit. The blow did get my adrenaline going, and I felt like hell for a few hours.
On top of your head? Not very likely. In order to lose consciousness, something traumatic has to happen to the brain, and the brain is protected by a very sturdy helmet known as “the skull”. It takes one hell of a blow to penetrate the skull and cause a loss of consciousness.
It’s a whole lot easier, however, to circumvent the skull’s protective casing. Most often, the cause of the loss of consciousness is a blow to the neck. While the skull is a fabulous protective mechanism, the neck is an awesomely fragile and highly exposed bit of flesh. The neck is basically a spinal cord, huge arteries and veins, plus a delicate airway, protected by absolutely nothing, precariously balancing the skull on top.
One highly vulnerable spot is the “carotid sinus”, an area in the neck vaguely below the rear angle of the jaw line. A blow to this area (and I admit that my knowledge is incomplete and may not be perfectly accurate) stimulates a reflex that causes the brain to believe that its internal blood pressure is too high. As a result, blood flow is temporarily dropped, causing an instant but temporary loss of consciousness. Watch those UFC knockouts, most of the “eyes rolled back, drops like a rag doll” type KOs are caused by a punch or kick that lands on the side of the neck.
Thanks Max, that makes sense. I’ve often wondered why more knock-outs aren’t fatal. It’s nice to know some of them are caused by a reflex rather than actual damage.
Still, folks shouldn’t be cavalier about blows to the head. Even if the skull stays intact, a blow causes the brain to slosh around inside. I’ve read that any impact over about 300 "G"s is likely to cause damage. That sounds like a lot, but a six-inch drop on a hard surface is more than enough, and boxers routinely take harder hits.
I was knocked out (for about a minute they say) by being kick in the head (temple area) during a sandlot football game.
I was knocked out while boxing for a second or so. Long enough for me to reach the ground without knowing how I got there.
I was knocked out by a blow to the neck in a Karate class. A lot like the boxing - I wasn’t “out” for any length of time but I did go from standing to down without any inbetween.
No, I don’t think I have any permanent damage …<twitch>… Why do you ask?
I’ve seen at least a half dozen in ice hockey. It can be terrifying to watch.
**It should be noted that the victim’s head movement, not just the landing blow’s movement, is very relevant to whether it’s a knockout. ** If you ever heard the fight terminolgy, “He walked into it”, it is because when the head is moving towards the attacking hand/whatever, the whole shock-absorber effect the neck can provide is nullified or worse.
That’s why you are most vulnerable when you throw a haymaker and miss. Your energy is propelling you forward and if the opponent lands a blow, you can be knocked out. In these instances, I’ve see the eyes roll back and even limbs/fingers curl up like death or paralysis – very scary stuff.
The ability of the neck to flex and take some of the energy is a determining factor, not just the punch/whatever.
You were probably pretty lucky and took at least some of the impact and momentum on your neck and shoulders, and possibly instinctively tucked your chin when you fell, which can mean the difference between bad headache and unconsciousness. Another poster’s father had a similar fall on the ice, ended up in dizzy and vomiting in neurological intensive care, and nearly died. The poster was the OP in this thread:
I’ve seen a guy knocked out by catching the point of an elbow to the back of the head while sparring, and it was like justrob said: somebody just flipped his off switch, and he was out for a good while. The skull is a very hard and protective casing, but hitting it in certain areas will cause the brain to violently whip against the equally hard interior of it.
I have a question for the people who know what it takes to get knocked out, on TV and movies that you seen (such a Rockford, that one poster mentioned) to those blows to the head delivered by the actors, seem like they would 'cause you to be knocked out?
I mean fiction, not in acutal sports or real life.
I was walking down the street late one afternoon and the next thing I knew I was on the ground looking up. I had walked into the bottom of a police call box that was about 1/2" lower than the top of me head. I’m not sure how long I was out.
A concussion or mild traumatic brain injury (M.T.B.I) has been defined as 30 minutes or fewer of loss of consciousness, though there are other definitions.
Squeezing or choking the carotid sinus has been known to lead to unconsciousness as well.
Spinning the head then stopping it, which might happen following a punch to the jaw, can lead to concussion since the brain, floating in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), can still move and become damaged. http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=13166
