Traumatic Effects Of Traumatic Brain Injury

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 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

Concussion, also known as minor head trauma or mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) is the most common type of traumatic brain injury. It is typically defined as a head injury with a temporary loss of brain function. Symptoms include a variety of physical, cognitive, and emotional symptoms, which may not be recognized if subtle. A variety of signs accompany concussion including headache, feeling in a fog, and emotional changeability. In general, the signs can be categorized into physical signs (such as loss of consciousness or amnesia), behavioral changes (such as irritability), cognitive impairment (such as slowed reaction times), and sleep disturbances.[1] Fewer than 10% of sports-related concussions among children are associated with loss of consciousness.[2]

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

As concussions cause physical damage to the brain tissue it can affect how the tissue develops, meaning children with traumatic brain injury can have lasting negative effects on cognition and academic success (US News). In fact, “children who experience traumatic brain injuries during the ages of 3-7 are more than three times more likely to develop Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)” (US News). ADHD is the most common psychiatric disorder among children with history of brain injuries. It is important that caregivers keep a close watch on children who have suffered brain injuries, even several years after the injury has occurred (US News). These symptoms can create life altering situations for children especially in regard to their education. Concussions limit a students ability to concentrate and mental exertion can cause symptoms like headaches to worsen. An example given by an educational resource explains that if “a student with a concussion spends a lot of energy studying intensely for an exam, there will be less energy available to help the brain repair itself, which may delay recovery. These effects are referred to as cognitive-exertional effects”. This means that participation in school can worsen symptoms and slow recovery time therefore prolonging the symptoms of the injury. This document also recommends that students take breaks known as “cognitive rest” to allow the brain to recover and prevent mental exertion. Unfortunately this will limit students from several activities such as “using a computer, driving, watching television, studying for or taking an exam, using a cell phone, reading, playing video games, and text messaging or other activities that cause concussion symptoms to appear or worsen” (Brain Injury Association of Canada). This is the effect that concussions have on the cognitive aspects of a student’s life but there

CTE affect player with concussion because they can start developing CTE. CTE is known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy which is a progressive degenerative disease of the brain found in people with a history of repetitive brain trauma. Recent data have shown 17% of individual with repetitive mTBI may develop CTE. Athletes who return to play before their first event are healed place themselves at a significant risk of a second significant brain injury and the adverse effects of the cumulative process. Even though that the player might be clear from concussion but CTE continues to progress, continue to execute their effects and as long the individual lives, the worse the symptoms become. CTE can affect player behavior, mood, memory, and

In the category of physical signs and symptoms experienced by young athletes post traumatic brain injury includes headache, dizziness or balance issues, fatigue, visual problems or photosensitivity, numbness or tingling, nausea, vomiting, tinnitus, and dazed appearance. In the category of cognitive signs and symptoms experienced by young athletes post traumatic brain injury includes inability to concentrate, feeling foggy or sluggish, and reduction in memory capacity, confusion, and delayed responsiveness. In the category of emotional or behavioural signs and symptoms experienced by young athletes post traumatic brain injury includes anxiety, irritability, and depression. In the category of sleep signs and symptoms experienced by young athletes post traumatic brain injury includes excessive drowsiness, inability to fall asleep, and sleeping more or less than usual (Hung et al.,

According to the Center for Disease Control, traumatic brain injuries contribute to about 30% of all injury deaths. Traumatic brain injuries are classified as “severe” or “mild”. The most common type of TBI is mild and called a concussion. The CDC estimates 2.8 billion emergency

tissue can be damaged by a variety of things like infections, tumors, or strokes, any injury

What the TBI victim goes through is horrific. Traumatic brain injury can cause a wide range of functional issues, short-term or long-term. It can affect thinking, sensation, language, or emotions (CDC). The long term damage of TBI’s can result in permanent damage that can change the person’s deficits to varying degrees, especially long

Signs and symptoms of a traumatic brain injury can be difficult to diagnose. Many of the signs and symptoms vary from person to person or they can take up to a couple of weeks before they surface (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2007). The signs and symptoms can range from minor signs like blurred vision to more serious signs like loss of consciousness. The signs and symptoms of a traumatic brain injury include: Headache, dizziness, nausea, vomiting (Clayton, 1995), unaware of place and time (Farrow, 2004), temporary or prolonged loss of consciousness, amnesia (memory loss), emotional instability, dilated pupils (Levy, 1993), balance problems, blurry vision, sensitivity to light and noise, sluggish or groggy feeling, or concentration problems (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2007). If an athlete has these symptoms they should get immediate medical attention. However, most of these symptoms can be signs of another health problem so they may not have a traumatic brain injury with these

The CogState is a brief battery that measures psychomotor function, information processing speed, visual attention, vigilance, and visual and verbal learning and memory. Evidence supporting the construct and criterion validity of this NCAT suggests it can be used for detecting cognitive impairment from a concussion (Maruff, et al.,

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,