The Silent Epidemic
It only takes a split second for a jolt to the skull to cause extensive damage and serious impairment of the voluminous and vital neurological functions. Who would be your power of attorney? How would you pay for the medical bills? Questions the majority of people never even think of- you never think it could be you. Effects may be long term or short term, depending on the gravity of the incident. Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is a serious public health problem in the United States. Based on recent studies, on average, 1.7 million people endure a traumatic brain injury each year.
The leading causes of Traumatic Brain Injuries are falls, motor vehicle accidents, struck by or against objects, and assaults. The initial
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Every TBI is unique, sometimes symptoms appear right away, and other times it takes days or weeks after the injury. Symptoms of a mild TBI include: difficulty thinking, persistent headache, dizziness and irritability, alteration of normal sleeping patterns, nausea or vomiting, and anxiety. In rare cases, a blood clot may form crowding the brain against the skull after a concussion, immediate health care is needed.
Considering no two brain injuries are the same, treatment is stipulated accordingly. In the case of mild injury management, it is fairly low maintenance, requiring a lot of rest and over-the-counter pain medicine. However, the patient must be monitored religiously in case of worsening or new symptoms where immediately medical attention is vital. Once cleared by a doctor, the patient steadily returns to their normal schedules. Immediately after moderate and severe injuries, treatment is concentrated on prevention of secondary damage resulting from inflammation, bleeding, or reduced oxygen supply to the brain. Medications prescribed to diminish chance of secondary loss include diuretics, anti-seizure drugs, and coma-inducing drugs. Surgery is crucial in removing hematomas (clotted blood), repairing skull fractures, and opening a window in the skull in order to relieve pressure and allow room for swelling. A large part of treatment is rehabilitation. The goal is to get patients back to their normal daily routines. Rehab usually
Traumatic brain injury occurs when a person is hit in the head with a blunt force. This significant force to the head can happen playing recreational sports, on the playground, being in a car or motorcycle accident, falling down at home and your head impacting something, a blast or explosion. Traumatic brain injuries are also the leading cause of fatality rate and disability, especially in children, young adults and elderly. TBI is a devastating condition that affects millions of people nationwide, because it can affect the nervous system permanently, it also messes with the neurological, musculoskeletal, cognitive and much more. TBI force a family to deal with not just the physical disability, with the behavioral and emotional roller
As we all know, the human brain is the most insubstantial and vital organ in the human body as it is the command center for every other body part (newscientist.com). Any slight wound to this organ could lead to severe consequences usually encountered at that very moment. It may be an extremely low chance of a major head injury, but it does happen to millions of people annually. One single concussion, provided with the lack of healing, could lead to short-term and long-term memory loss, depression,
When you have a concussion it can be hard to focus, you can have lower test scores, and every time you get a concussion you damage your brain long term more and more [Newsela]. Also, after you get one concussion you have a better chance of multiple concussions, like cognitive impairments, chronic traumatic encephalopathy, and also it can cause post concussion syndrome [Flynn]. 9/10 teens who continue to show symptoms of brain injury have academic problems like headaches and bad concentration. Once you have multiple concussions you can get syndrome like cognitive impairments (MCI's), chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), and post-concussion syndrome (PCS). Headache (85%) and Dizziness (70-80%) are most commonly reported symptoms immediately following concussions for injured athletes [Flynn].“The National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research in Chapel Hill, NC, reported 35 cases of Second-impact syndrome [SIS] among American football players from
Concussions or mild traumatic brain injuries (MTBI) are the most common forms of traumatic brain injury. There are between 1.6 and 3.8 million concussions a year that occur due to sports and recreation accidents alone (CDC). Mild concussions and MTBIs were once thought to be insignificant in terms of consequences. However, there now is significant evidence that neurological even with what is thought to be a mild injury, physiological, and cognitive changes can occur. Individuals sustaining mild brain injuries often report an assortment of physical, cognitive, and emotional/behavioral symptoms referred to as post concussion syndrome (PCS). There are many symptoms associated with PCS, but these symptoms are often mistaken as behavior, mood, and/or adjustment disorders.
In the United States it is estimated that there are about 1.7 million traumatic brain injuries per year. Despite this high number there also thousands of other head injuries that go unreported. Of all those people the age groups that are most likely to suffer from such injury are from 0 to 4 and from 15 to 19, the second group being High School students. Of these traumatic brain injuries the most common is a concussion. According to research the problem with these injuries is that if someone has already received one concussion, they are 1-2 times more likely to receive a second one. If they 've had two concussions, then a third is 2-4 times more likely, and if they 've had three concussions, then they are 3-9 times more likely to receive their fourth concussion. All these concussions sustained by one person can result in further problems and even death.
Traumatic brain injury is any damage caused to the brain. Individuals with TBI may show aphasia-like symptoms, yet the characteristics of TBI include mostly cognitive processes deficits. Those characteristics include disrupt orientation, attention, memory, visual processing, and executive functions problems. Penitents with TBI experience a blackout that can last anywhere between a few minutes up to months and usually wake up confused and disoriented. They do not have any recollection of the events that occurred. In addition to the common characteristics mentioned earlier, TBI patients exhibit communication deficits that relate to poor cognitive functioning such as problems with word finding, grammatical, spelling, reading, and writing. The cause of TBI is very straightforward, unlike SLI or ASD. Any injury to the head, for example motor vehicle accidents, falls, blast trauma, and more, can cause a TBI. These in turn can cause damage to multiple areas of the brain and impair motor, speech, language, and cognitive functions as discussed. It is important to note that unlike ASD that usually
A traumatic brain injury (“TBI”) occurs when the brain is somehow injured, rattled, or wounded from an external source of force. The means of acquisition and the severity of TBIs are unique to each patient; therefore, symptoms and rehabilitation can vary greatly depending on the patient’s condition following the incident and how they sustained the injury. The severity of a TBI is generally classified into one of three categories: mild, moderate, or severe, and this type of diagnostic criteria influences how a patient with TBI is treated by medical staff and rehabilitation specialists. TBIs can affect a specific part of the brain that was directly impacted, leaving the patients with only one or a few areas of impairment, or the damage can
A study done by the Center of Disease Control (CDC) concluded that TBI’s contribute to 30% of all injury-based deaths. All brain injuries sustained are a danger to the health of the victim, no matter how common it may be. A concussion alone may not seem much, but it is the effects that come later in life that really change a person’s
A traumatic brain injury (“TBI”) occurs when the brain is somehow injured, rattled, or wounded from an external source of force. The means of acquisition and the severity of TBIs are unique to each patient; therefore, symptoms and rehabilitation can vary greatly depending on the patient’s condition following the incident and how they sustained the injury. The severity of a TBI is generally classified into one of three categories: mild, moderate, or severe, and this type of diagnostic criteria influences how a patient with TBI is treated by medical staff and rehabilitation specialists. TBIs can affect a specific part of the brain that was directly impacted, leaving the patients with only one or a few areas of impairment, or the damage can
The brain is the most important organ in the body. It controls the thoughts and actions of humans. The brain is located within the skull, creating the idea that it is safe from any for of injury. This unfortunately is not the case. Concussions are defined by the United States Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as “A mild form of traumatic brain injury (TBI) caused by a bump, blow, or jolt to the head.” In 2010 alone almost 2.5 million emergency room visits were for concussions or other forms of traumatic brain injury associated with it, forty percent of these injuries were sustained from falling accidents; while others were caused by motor vehicle accidents, being struck by an obstacle and assault.
For a long time, traumatic brain injury has been a large contributor to disabilities and death within the United States. Around 30 percent of these injuries lead to death, and those who survive these injuries may suffer from short-term side effects to long-term disabilities. It can range from a minor head injury to a major injury that you might suffer from a motorcycle accident.
“From 2001 to 2009, the annual number of sports-related TBI emergency department visits in individuals age 19 and under climbed from 153,375 to 248,414, an increase of increase of 62 percent” (Lowrey and Morain 290). A Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) or Concussion in most cases is when there is a severe blow to the brain. Not all TBIs are the same and not all of them can be treated the same, but what they do have in common is that they changes lives negatively and should be address accordingly. Americans should give more attention to the issue of Traumatic Brain Injuries in sports because it takes more time than a regular injury for symptoms to reside, players usually do not come back the same, and could possibly lead other medical issues.
to the brain from an external force can result in Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). When the
When a person gets a concussion they right away feel tired and lost. This is common in most cases but when women get a concussion and time progress their symptoms seem to get worse. Usually when a person gets a concussion they rest till they get better or cleared by a doctor. However, for some women they go through mood changes, become agitated, and or having personality changes. Most doctors diagnose this as a natural way for women, but in reality this could be more severe than expected. In order for a person to get back to normal after getting a concussion, especially for athletes, they must rest and get cleared by a doctor before going back to playing or working out. Head trauma is a result from getting a concussion. Bleeding in the brain can happen is not letting the brain fully heal. In order to tell when this occurs some recognizable symptoms are drowsiness, constant nose bleeds, and headaches. When a person gets head trauma their brain begins to swell and could possibly kill a person if not treated
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, traumatic brain injury is one of the leading causes of disability and death in the United States. Approximately 30 percent of all injury deaths are caused by a TBI. The CDC states that from 2006 to 2010, vehicle crashes were the second leading cause (26 percent) of traumatic brain injury deaths. One common TBI is the diffuse axonal injury, making up approximately 50 percent of all severe traumatic brain injuries.