Injury in humans

Injury in humans is physical or psychological harm caused by trauma, harmful exposure, or another damaging event. It ranges from temporary impairment to lasting disability or death.

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Blunt trauma: Injury caused by impact or compression without an object penetrating the body. It illustrates how force can damage tissue while leaving the skin intact.
Trauma: A damaging event or experience that overwhelms physical or psychological defenses. Injury is one possible consequence of a traumatic event.
Injury severity score: An anatomical scoring system that summarizes the severity of injuries across body regions. It helps quantify overall injury burden in trauma care and research.
Disease: A harmful condition that disrupts the normal structure or function of an organism. Disease may arise without a damaging event, unlike injury as defined here.
Post-traumatic stress disorder: A mental disorder involving persistent symptoms after exposure to a traumatic event. Some injuries or injury-causing events are followed by persistent trauma-related symptoms.
Penetrating trauma: Injury in which an object passes through the skin and enters underlying tissues. A breach in the body creates damage along the object’s path and risks internal bleeding.
Tissue: A group of similar cells and their surrounding material that performs a specific function. Most physical injuries begin with disruption of one or more body tissues.
Glasgow Coma Scale: A clinical scale assessing eye, verbal, and motor responses after impaired consciousness. It provides a standardized way to assess consciousness after head injury.
Poisoning: Harmful effects caused by exposure to a toxic substance. Poisoning describes a cause or process that may produce injury, rather than all injury.
Chronic pain: Pain that persists or recurs beyond the usual course of healing. Pain can continue after the initial injury has healed or stabilized.