Life After Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

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

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.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) has affected many people, but has hardly raised awareness; in fact according to Marcia Clemmitt “About 1.7 million Americans suffer a traumatic brain injury (TBI) every year…Yet, while they affect so many people, TBI has received little medical-research funding until brain injuries from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan … began to mount in recent years.”(Clemmitt) For such a long time many people were unaware of what traumatic brain injury even meant; Up until a numerous groups of veterans that came back home, from Afghanistan were found to suffer from traumatic brain injuries. Due to the discovery, the people that already suffered from traumatic brain injury

War comes with many injuries some physical and some invisible more often in this society the invisible wounds could take a short time to show or an extended time. Along the path another war is fought in the homes while the invisible injuries are taking their tole on the individual many more casualties come from the act of war and they did not even deploy. Other victims of war include citizens of war torn countries, who are often affected both psychologically as well as physically. Mother and fathers sent to war, away from their children unable to form a relationship. Marriages broken apart, The man left alone trying to cope with his own injuries. These things change a man, it changes his outlook on life making it challenging to complete everyday

Traumatic brain injuries have become an epidemic, affecting both children and adults. The effects of these brain injuries are severe however; they do differ in severity from youth to adult age in areas such as: cognitive and speech function, physical ability, fatigue, and headaches. America has been recognizing the severity of these injuries and sports and medicine have increased funding to prevent them. In order to properly decide what treatment is best for adults or youth suffering traumatic brain injuries one must conclude the differences between adult and youth symptoms, this proves challenging because the amount of adults suffering traumatic brain injuries is much fewer than adolescents. Another challenge faced when attempting to record and prevent these injuries is the lack of knowledge of symptoms; youth often misinterpret concussion symptoms and believe they have learning disabilities such as ADD and ADHD.

Traumatic brain injury is a serious harm to the brain which happens after a blow or jolt to the head. Also it causes wide-ranging spectrum of symptoms and disabilities. Suffering from TBI is not only an impact on the individual but it can also be devastating to the individual’s family. TBI can occur after experiencing a traumatic event or situation such as, accident, fall, violence, etc. There are three types of common symptoms for TBI for example, Physical, cognitive, and emotional. The symptoms for TBI and PTSD are really similar and because of similarities in both, it can be difficult to understand what the fundamental complication is. Furthermore, individuals with TBI are more likely to develop PTSD in the long run. Since there were many things the women was forgetting about while telling her story, it could have been due to TBI. When telling her story she couldn’t stay calm,” she cries

Initially the person affected should be removed from any strenuous work and told to rest. Sleep is the best remedy at this stage, as well as keeping their mind as relaxed as possible so things such as video games and T.V should be avoided to help your brain naturally try to reset itself. In the Army we take a test prior to brain injuries to create a baseline that can be reviewed after incidents involving TBI's to see if there was any long term change. Acute treatment consist of drugs to keep the person in a drug induced coma to prevent secondary injuries and help their bodies try to heal from the trauma, and this can also include devices to ventilate the patient if they can no longer breath on their own. Surgical means are typically for open head injuries but can also be implemented if there is pressure building up in the cranium. In the military given the prevalence of IED's in the battle field the army got together to make the MACE exam for quick assessment of those exposed to explosions or

Brain injury is a general term referring to any injury to the brain. Brain injury is stimulated by a number of factors such as bike and a car accident, assault, as fall, or a blow to the head, but these example of brain injuries which occur in nature. They are types of brain injuries such as, the brain injury that occur after birth, the traumatic brain injury (TBI) which is caused by an object such as stabbing or gun shots entering the brain causing widespread damage (Brain Injury Support(BIS), 2015; Volpe,2012). Apart from these types of brain injuries, the brain can be damaged due to lack of enough oxygen to the brain as a result to heart attack, internal bleeding like a stroke (ABI, 2015; Volpe, 2012). ABI (acquired brain injury) rehabilitation is an agency that specialises in rehabilitation after a traumatic brain injury and a stroke. But this paper will focus on brain injury only because it is an area of interest. Max Cavit is the manager director of ABI who came to an agreement with ACC to develop rehabilitation service in New Zealand (NZ), Max 's ideas evolve around how people living with brain injury were mostly garaged without access to rehabilitation service in 1996 NZ (ABI, 2015). After fifteen years, ABI has stood alone with its own facilities in Auckland and Wellington. ABI has about 200 medical specialist across all regions, and these specialists have a background whether in nursing or therapy, but they all have experience across all ages

With all the rest required when recovering from a traumatic brain injury, there is a lot of productivity lost in the work place. This loss of productivity has also been shown to result lack of job stability. There is not any exact data on the amount of financial data lost due specifically to TBI, but the annual cost of acute care and rehabilitation as close to reaching 10 billion dollars (Vuadens 2006). The main focus of a study by Saltychev was about returning to work following a TBI. He was identifying factors that are able to predict successful employment after a traumatic injury. Four of the trials he explored were found had positive interventions with returning to work.

almost two-thirds of persons are affected within seven years after injury.2 Importantly, major depression is associated with adverse outcomes,3,4,5 including social isolation, hostility and cognitive deficits.6 Little is known, however, about the development and progression of depression after TBI,3 particularly among women.7 Some risk factors for depression following TBI include structural changes in the brain due to injury. Depression may result from injury to the areas of the brain that control emotions, in particular areas of the limbic system. Changes in levels of certain chemicals in the brain, including neurotransmitters, have also been reported and can increase risk for depression following TBI.8 Psychological response to injury may

According to the CDC (United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), there are approximately 1.5 million people in the U.S. who suffer from a traumatic brain injury each year (CDC, 2003). Also, the CDC reports that nearly 50,000 people die from TBI each year and 85,000 people suffer long-term disabilities and slowly growing. Traumatic brain injury, also well known as TBI, is when severe change(s) in a normal functioning brain has abruptly changed due to a plethora of different MOI’s, some include: open or closed head injuries, deceleration injuries, chemical/toxic, hypoxia, tumors, infections and stroke. Car accidents, firearms, and falls often cause many TBI’s. Consequences of a brain injury vary from person-to-person because no two injuries are alike. A brain injury is different from a broken leg or punctured lung. Brain injuries do not heal like other injuries; once the brain is damaged it's hard to heal the damaged areas in the brain. Once the areas in the brain are affected it can lead to limited use of specific body parts, alter your personality, mental abilities, abnormal speech/language, impaired or loss of thinking and emotions (depression) and sensation (vision or hearing.)

Occupational therapy addresses impairments in different areas of occupation and teaches patients to adapt and learn new ways to perform the meaningful occupations successfully. Over the years, traumatic brain injury (TBI) has become the leading cause of disability and affects all age groups across the life span (Archer, Svensson, & Alricsson, 2012). TBI, is often a serious injury that occurs as a result of an accident or other trauma. When an individual experiences a traumatic brain injury, their life is normal one moment and shortly changed the next. When a person’s brain is injured, it can affect all aspects of their life, including their personality. Brain injuries also do not heal like other injuries and therefore can take much longer.

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

Traditionally, there have been few formal rehabilitation options for people who have suffered a stroke or traumatic brain injury (TBI) more than two years in the past. Experts believed any progress made would be made within those first two years. Sometimes additional physical, speech, or occupational therapy may be offered, but no major progress has usually been expected at that point.