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.
Individuals who survive a TBI can face disabilities for the rest of their lives, with symptoms including:
Impaired memory Inability to concentrate/think Movement difficulties Depression Personality changes Vision or hearing changes
DAI Causes
A diffuse axonal injury does not occur due to a blow to the head; it is caused by the brain moving back and forth within the skull. Vehicle crashes, falls, child abuse (shaken baby syndrome), sports-related accidents and violence are all common causes of this kind of brain injury. This type of injury
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The neuron body sends signals to other nerves via the axon. If the acceleration and deceleration forces are strong enough, the axons are severed from their neuron bodies. This makes communication between these specific nerves impossible. Nerve cells die, which leads to swelling. As the brain swells, pressure increases. This increased pressure can cause complications, including brain herniation and a restricted blood supply to brain tissue. As the axon is sheared, chemicals may be released into the brain, causing additional injury.
Symptoms
Lack of consciousness is the main symptom of a diffuse axonal injury. A conscious individual who has a mild/moderate DAI may show signs of brain damage. The area of the damage determines which symptoms an individual will experience.
Diagnosis
For a conscious patient, the physician asks a variety of questions designed to check cognitive
The sudden movement of brain inside the skull causes the brain to swell. This sudden movement of the brain causes the brain cells to stretch and tear, damaging the cells and creating chemical changes within the brain. It may not be obvious to parents, coaches, trainers and
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
Skull fractures are another type of traumatic brain injuries. Closed skull fractures can lead to brain hematomas and damage to the cranial nerves. Open skull fractures can occur from a direct blow or a penetrating injury. Open skull fractures related to direct blows often have increased injures related to the skull fragments being depressed into the brain or the vascular structures of the brain.
How an injury to the head can do damage to the brain varies. Brain swelling and disruption of blood supply are some direct causes of damage (Kolb & Whishaw, 2009). However, neurological damage develops after (also known as secondary injuries) the immediate moment of impact (Ghajar, 2000). In other words even minor head injuries can lead to lasting disabilities and that the injuries are amassed. Meaning that a minor injury can result in a major impairment (Ponsford, Sloan, & Snow, 2012).
For example, one head injury might cause poor memory or slurred speech. It can also cause a personality change or someone to have sudden difficulties with math. People who have experienced TBI have a much higher likelihood of having depression because they compare what they used to be able to do. They might suddenly have greater difficulty with simple tasks, noise and crowds, and it makes them sad. Sleep insomnia is another common issue with this injury because it can mess up an individual's sleep
In order to understand the origin of concussions, one must first understand how the head is affected by contact forces. When the head strikes or is struck by an object, both contact and inertial forces are applied to head (Meaney). These forces can cause injury to the brain both in close proximity to the impact zone or at more distant points. Focal forces are related to head injuries such as skull fractures and can cause stress waves that cause fractures at a distance from the impact zone where the skull has reduces structural properties. The primary cause of concussive injuries is large acceleration of the brain due to inertial forces. Due to how the head moves, the head undergoes both linear and rotational acceleration during impact. It has been found that linear accelerations correspond to increased pressure within the brain. This increased pressures causes neurologic dysfunction. The rotational acceleration component of impact is caused by rapid head rotations. These accelerations create shear forces in the brain . Further studies have shown that brain tissue deforms more severely in response to shear forces (Arash). Shear deformation caused by rotational acceleration is widely accepted as the primary mechanism in concussive injury.
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
Changes in the brain will be that some parts are not getting the blood supply which then leads to dead tissue causing a form of disability depending on the area of the brain affected.
Cerebrospinal fluid provides a protective cushion, and it can be found surrounding the brain and spinal cord. Even everyday movements of the head can lightly nudge the brain. A violent impact or rapid acceleration-deceleration of the head can cause the brain to rotate and strike the inside of the skull, and this is a reason why sports cause so many concussions. This injury compresses the brain and sends shock waves breaking away from the point of impact. The impact force stretches or tears neuronal axons, resulting in a mild form of the traumatic brain injury called diffuse axonal shearing. This injury compromises normal brain function because it interrupts communication between neurons. Physical symptoms of concussion include a headache, nausea, poor muscle coordination, dizziness, light sensitivity and blurred vision, ringing in the ears, and loss of consciousness. Some cognitive and emotional symptoms include disorientation, confusion, amnesia, inability to focus and concentrate, irritability, and depression. There are treatments for a concussion, but it depends on the severity and duration of
Common causes include sports injuries, bicycle accidents, car accidents, and falls, the latter two being the most frequent causes among adults.[3] In addition to a blow to the head, concussion may be caused by acceleration forces without a direct impact, and on the battlefield, MTBI is a potential consequence of nearby explosions.[4] It is not clear exactly what damage is done and how the symptoms are caused, but stretching of axons and changes in ion
When someone receives a concussion his or her brain processes change. In the brain, after the hit, the nervous system suffers from a type of paralysis. The brain itself is allowed to move somewhat freely inside the skull. A hit will cause the brain to bruise slightly where the forehead is and right at the top of the neck. Physical symptoms that result
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
TBI is a term that represent a subgroup of brain injuries that are minor compared to the larger group of brain disease. Yet, despite the many types of brain injuries, they all have some similar effects on an individual’s life that include: the inability to succeed academically and socially, family and work roles, and normal physical activities. Symptoms related to traumatic brain injury fall into three board areas-physical, cognitive, and psychosocial or behavioral challenges (Trudel et al., 2009, pg.
Traumatic brain injury or TBI happens when a bump, blow, jolt, or other head injury causes damage to the brain. Every year, millions of people suffer from brain injuries. More than half are bad enough that people have to go to the hospital. The worse injuries can lead to permanent brain damage or even death. Half of all TBIs are from motor vehicle accidents. Most common are also from sports, like boxing and football.
Traumatic brain injury (TBI), or intracranial injury, is a medical diagnosis which refers to closed or penetrative damage to the brain that is caused by an external source. Every year, TBIs affect approximately 150-250 people in a population of 100,000 (León-Carrión, Domínguez-Morales, Martín, & Murillo-Cabezas, 2005). The leading causes of TBI are traffic accidents, work injuries, sports injuries, and extreme violence (León-Carrión et al., 2005). TBI is most often fatal when the cause is an injury due to the use of firearms, a traffic accident, or a long fall (León-Carrión et al., 2005). However, fatality rates and rates of occurrence differ in various countries due to