Articles Posted in Brain Injury

We have heard a great deal about the dangers of head injuries, including concussions.  For those who are not aware of what a concussion is, it is essentially a brain injury that occurs when the victim is hit in the head or even the victim of a whiplash type accident where the brain forcefully slams into the skull.  This can result in swelling as blood pools under the dura.

This is the same thing that happens when a person gets a bruise anywhere on his or her body, but when the bruise happens in the brain, there is nowhere for the blood to expand due to the skull, and this creates a buildup of pressure that can result in permanent brain damage. Continue reading

In the last five years, we have seen a lot more media coverage involving traumatic brain injuries and concussions.  While we have seen a lot of talk about head injuries suffered by our brave service members, we are now hearing a lot more about head injuries in professional sports and sports played by young athletes.

Due to the real risks of our youth suffering a serious head injury with lasting brain damage, it is important to do whatever we can to prevent these injuries from occurring.   In an effort to help with prevention, as discussed in a recent news article from the Westborough Patch, the Brain Injury Association of Massachusetts has just appointed a Manager of Prevention. Continue reading

Over the past decade, scientists and doctors have made many advances with regard to how head injuries, including traumatic brain injuries, are treated.  One major reason for this was that in the global War on Terror in Afghanistan and Iraq among other places, we have had thousands of brave men and women coming home after suffering head injuries as a result of improvised explosive devices (IEDs), enemy fire and other accidents.  In wars past, these men and women would likely have died on the battlefield. Today, with advances in modern medicine, they are surviving – and returning home in need of treatment for brain injuries.

One of the reasons brain injuries are so problematic is because once the brain cells are destroyed, they do not regenerate as part of the normal healing process. In other words, the damage is often life-long.  In addition to brain injury caused by a traumatic impact, having stroke results in a deprivation of oxygen to the brain, and that results in the death of brain cells. Continue reading

We have seen a lot of news coverage around the country about police-involved shootings and the protests that increasingly follow.  One recent shooting in Charlotte that has led to considerable protests from the community and across the nation was partially captured on cell phone video where the wife of the decedent can be heard yelling not to shoot her husband and that he has a “TBI” or traumatic brain injury and cannot understand what the police were telling him to do.  After the shooting, the decedent’s family told CNN that he had recently survived a nearly fatal motorcycle accident and suffered a traumatic brain injury that left him with substantial brain damage.

In light of this case, CNN decided to take a closer look at what it means to have a traumatic brain injury and also the cause of traumatic brain injury.  There are various possible causes for a patient to suffer a traumatic brain injury, and while some of these causes do not involve any type of impact, the vast majority of traumatic brain injuries occur following a serious accident. Continue reading

A recent news feature from the New York Times takes a look the number of reported head injuries as a result of stroller accidents and how those numbers are on the rise. National reporting statistics show that on average, 50 children each day will be seen in the emergency room because of a head injury suffered while in a baby carrier or stroller.

While this is bad enough on its own, it now seems that a far greater percentage of these children are suffering from a traumatic brain injury than previously believed. These new numbers came from the National Injury Surveillance System.  It should be noted that in the context of scientific research, surveillance means looking at various types of records rather than taking an actual roll in the events or treatment while they are happening.  A surveillance study can happen years later because there is no interaction required by the researchers. Continue reading

While it may seem strange to think of a traumatic brain injury (TBI) as being mild, neurologists routinely distinguish between the different degrees of brain damage a person can experience.  One of the reasons doctors are now doing this is because they know a lot more about the human brain and how it is affected by injury that in years past.  There are a few major reasons for this newly acquired knowledge about the human brain.

One of the reasons is that technology allows better scans and imaging than ever before, so doctors are able to see more of how the human brain functions by using this equipment.  A second reason is that there are a lot more studies being done on sports-related head injuries than ever before.  Whether we are talking about traditional concussions or the more nuanced form of brain injury discussed in the recent movie starring Will Smith, the problem is given more attention these days. Continue reading