TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURIES IN THE MILITARY
USAACE
NCOA
SSG Justin T. LaFountain
15ZSLC
17-002
SFC Maradol Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) in the military are a tangible threat to the men and women of the United States military. Operations in Iraq and Afghanistan have created a spotlight on this injury, as the “signature injury”. Specific criteria makeup the definition of a TBI, which is certain symptoms and severity levels of those symptoms. Due to the capacity of this injury, the Department of Defense (DoD) and Congress have created mandates, along with treatment methods, and the ability to achieve an end goal of aiding an individual’s complete recovery.
TBI is a blow, jolt, or other injury to the head that disrupts the
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Symptoms due to loss of sleep manifest as fatigue, difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep, easily tired and nightmares (Helms, 2014).
The leading cause of TBIs in military operations is blast waves (Carlson, 2010). The estimation is that 330,000 veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan have TBIs and up to ninety percent of these are cause by a blast or explosion. To break down these TBI levels of severity further, Hinds II (2016) states an estimated 82.4 percent are mild, 17.6 percent are moderate, and 8.5 percent are severe.
In 2006, the DoD mandated systematic screening, diagnosis, and care for individuals whom acquired a traumatic brain injury. Congress also mandated that military and Department of Veterans Affairs will screen all service members returning from combat (Jaffee, 2009). The Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center (DVBIC) took lead on this quest however; the operational requirements and capabilities of this center are the restricting factors of accomplishing this mandate. DVBIC developed and trained medical care personal with Military Acute Concussion Evaluation (MACE) (Hinds II, 2016). MACE is a field expedient tool, with a 7-section exam, that gives military personal to quickly identify concussions anywhere in the world, which requires no special equipment to administer. The sections of the exam include: concussion screening, concussion screening results, cognitive exam,
After the long and physically demanding battles of World War Two, many soldiers returned to the United States of America battling injuries many physicians did not know how to acknowledge at the time. But, as many soldiers were able to return to their families, even with a brain injury, many soldiers lost their lives to brain injuries. Two researchers who conducted one of the largest studies on base camps about the extent of brain injuries and how it affected soldiers was Sekulovic and Ceramilac, these researchers were able to “summaries autopsies of 499 deaths occurring within 30 days of traumatic brain injury.”1 Sekulovic and Ceramilac were able to find “that 78% of the deaths were due to injury to brain stem, brain edema or brain compression.”1 While Sekulovic and Ceramilac were able to determine the percentage of which were affected by brain injuries during World War Two, many researchers were hoping to acknowledge the dynamic longer term possibilities. According to Dr. Ian J. Baguley, “patients who had been released from the hospital into rehabilitation facilities”1 were considered long term for brain injuries. Where as Dr. Robert M. Shavelle found that patients coming from war can be classified as long term as long as the effects lasted “one year or longer post injury.”1 Many studies by various researchers were also able to discover that “even in long-term, death rates from many different causes are elevated for persons with [traumatic brain injury] by comparison with
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a type of injury that is a critical public health and socio-economic problem. TBI is a leading cause of death and disability in both children and adults [5]. The Centers for Disease Control and
Medical and technological advances have led to greater survival rates in individuals suffering from various illness and injury throughout history. This includes individuals who suffer traumatic and nontraumatic brain injuries. Approximately 1.5 million people in the United States sustain a brain injury each year with the survival rate of over 90 percent making brain injury the leading cause for disability in the United States. (Mysiw, Bogner, Corrigan, Fugate, Clinchot, & Kadyan 2006). Cognitive, physical, sensory and behavioral changes are widely noted in individuals in the months and years following a brain injury. However, the psychosocial, psychological and emotional effects of these injuries are less discussed and therefore these aspects can be overlooked when anticipating a course of treatment. Individuals who sustain acquired brain injuries experience significant, lasting impairment in the psychosocial, psychological and emotional aspects of their lives and better understanding of these issues can lead to better treatment and coping skills for these individuals.
The skull of human body holds the most valuable organ, the brain. This is the control center of the body. It is evident that injury to the brain is life threatening in many ways. One specific injury that is becoming more prevalent in the United States is concussions. Particularly concussions are becoming very prevalent in young children, teens, and professional athletes. A study in July of 2016 shared that roughly 1.1 to 1.9 million concussions occur annually in the U.S. to children who are 18 and younger (Bryan, Rowhani-Rahbar, Comstock, & Rivar, 2016, p.1). Concussions can lead to traumatic brain injuries (TBI), which can lead to mortality (HEADS UP, 2016). Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shared that over 138 people die from TBI on a daily basis in the U.S. (HEADS UP, 2016). Public health is bringing awareness all over the U.S. to advocate prevention of concussions and make athletic events safer. Programs are being implemented to educate parents, coaches, and young athletes in hopes of concussion reduction. Concussions affect over 1.1 million American people yearly; this subject should not be taken lightly.
The American Academy of Neurology defines concussion as any trauma-induced alteration in mental status that may or may not include loss of consciousness (1997). Concussion is one of the predominant injuries within the military, with a prevalence of around 15 percent (MacGregor et al., 2010). Military personnel who have sustained a concussion are often returned to full status duty shortly after the injury-causing event (Gondusky & Reiter, 2005). In order to determine whether this is an appropriate course of action, it is imperative to be able to measure the lasting effects of concussion on neuropsychological functioning.
A traumatic brain injury (TBI) also known as a concussion is a serious health problem to athletes, especially to football players. The brain controls the body and gives a person personality and defines every aspect of his or her life. A brain injury can disrupt a person’s life in an instance and like broken bones or bruises; TBI can limit or prevent normal body functions. A brain injury, unlike common injuries can damage mental abilities to include memory and speech. There are only two classifications in TBI; mild and severe. Mild TBI is classified as loss of consciousness and or confusion and disorientation for less than thirty minutes. Severe TBI is thirty or more minutes and with memory loss. A person
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
Homemade explosives are the arsenals of choice by the terrorists not just around the world but also in their own backyards as seen in the recent war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thanks to the hard work of our Department of Defense, many of our soldiers are surviving these blasts due to improvements made to their uniforms and armor. Even though, we have been able to quickly identify and treat their visible injuries; we tend to overlook the more traumatic brain injuries and disorder these soldiers face when they return home to their families. However, the U.S. department of Defense and Veterans Health Administration have raised the awareness of promptly identifying the disabling symptoms of these injuries that may negatively affect the quality of life of our brothers and sisters that sacrifice their lives for our freedom. PTSD is a complicated disorder that affects veterans in general. The department of Veterans Affairs is devoted to provide the best care for our veterans that are diagnosed with this terrible disorder.
“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.
Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) has gained considerable notice in recent years since the Global War on Terrorism. High percentages of service members surviving combat-related injuries are now battling the long-lasting effects and associated medical morbidities of brain trauma. Nearly 1.6 million service members deployed in Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) through June 30, 2007 (Defense Manpower Data Center ). While percentages of those deployed sustaining mTBI are only approximations and may underestimate prevalence of injury and underscore the subsequent impact of postconcussive symptoms, as many as 12-35% of those with exposure to combat are estimated to have experienced an mTBI (Schneiderman, Braver, & Kang, 2008 ; Hoge, et al., 2008 ). Moreover, an estimated 25,000 military personnel sustained an mTBI in 2014 alone, as reported by the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center (DVBIC, 2015). MTBI has a
Traumatic brain injuries, or TBI, are the leading cause of death in children and young adults globally. Of the people who survive, most live a drastically
In this article the known facts are the veterans with traumatic brain injury having chronic pain throughout post
Traumatic Brain Injury is otherwise known as TBI. “Traumatic brain injury, a form of acquired brain injury, occurs when sudden trauma causes damage to the brain. TBI can result when the head suddenly and violently hits an object, or when an object pierces the skull and enters brain tissue” (NINDS, 2010). There are two main types of TBI, closed head injuries such as head hitting a windshield and penetrating head injuries such as a gunshot wound. As reported by the Global Neuroscience Initiative Foundation,” The severity of traumatic brain injuries is often assessed using the Glasgow Coma Scale, with scores ranging from 3 to 15. The higher the score,
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is defined as an external force caused changes in brain function or other evidence of brain pathology (Menon, Schwab, Wright, & Maas, 2010, p. 1638). Assessed with Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score, TBI is categorised into four injuries, namely minor (GCS=15), mild (GCS≥13), moderate (GCS 9-12), and severe (GCS ≤8) (Parsons & Hammeke, 2014, p. 211). Chronologically, TBI is divided into primary and secondary injuries (Gean & Fischbein 2010, p. 527). Primary injury occurs at the moment of injury with immediate brain tissue shearing and compression; whereas secondary injuries occur as a consequential physiologic response to primary injury that happens in the next hours and days. Increased intracranial pressure (ICP),
Traumatic brain injury, or TBI, occurs when there is a sudden, direct injury to the head. This type of wound can result from a bump, blow, or jolt to the cranium. It may even result from the penetration of a foreign object into the brain tissue. Most TBI’s result from car accidents, sports injuries, blunt trauma, unintentional injuries and falls, with falls accounting for about 40% of all TBI injuries. Much like stroke patients, individuals suffering from traumatic brain injuries may have to live with a variety of detriments based on the location and extent of their injury. For example, patients can experience impaired sensation, vision, hearing, memory, processing skills or even emotional and behavioral functioning ("Injury Prevention & Control: Traumatic Brain Injury,” 2015) The purpose of this paper is to provide information regarding the pathophysiology, treatment and medical management of traumatic brain injuries. A case study will be supplied to facilitate discussion of the topic.