WHAT IS TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY?
A traumatic brain injury (TBI) is caused by a blow or jolt to the head or a penetrating head injury that disrupts the normal function of the brain. Not all blows or jolts to the head result in a TBI. The severity of a TBI may range from "mild," i.e., a brief change in mental status or consciousness, to "severe," i.e., an extended period of unconsciousness or amnesia after the injury.
WHAT CAUSES TBI?
The causes of TBI are:
Falls (28%)
Falls are the leading cause of TBI; rates are highest for children ages birth to 4 years and adults ages 75 years and older.
Motor vehicle-traffic crashes (20%)
Motor vehicle-traffic causes result in the greatest number of TBI-related hospitalizations. The rate of motor vehicle-traffic-related TBI is highest among adolescents ages 15 to 19 years.
Struck by/against events (19%)
Struck by/against events, which include colliding with a moving or stationary object, are the third leading cause of TBI.
Assaults (11%)
All others (22%)
Approximately 1.6 - 3.8 million sports- and recreation-related TBIs occur in the United States each year. Most of these are mild TBIs that are not treated in a hospital or emergency department.
MORE ABOUT TBI
Robert P. Lehr Jr., Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus, Department of Anatomy, School of Medicine, Southern Illinois University
http://www.neuroskills.com/brain.shtml
In traumatic brain injury, the brain may be injured in a specific location or the injury may be diffused to many different parts of the brain. It is this indefinite nature of acquired brain injury that makes treatment unique for each individual patient. In the past twenty years, a great deal has been learned about brain function, and we learn more every day. We can make guesses about the nature of the problems an individual may have from knowing the location of a lesion. Diagnostic procedures such as CT scans and MRI's can also provide information about a brain injury. As rehabilitation specialists, however, we can also learn about an injury by observing the day-to-day activities of the patient. All the activities we perform each day, whether physical or mental, are directed by different parts of our brains. It is important to become familiar with brain function to better understand how therapies, created by rehabilitation professionals, help brain-injured patients.
The brain has many parts including the cerebral cortex, brain stem, and cerebellum. By listing some of the functions of each part of the brain, we will provide an overview of what problems occur after injury to these parts. It is important to understand that the brain functions as a whole by interrelating its component parts. The injury may only disrupt a particular step of an activity that occurs in a specific part of the brain. The interruption of that activity at any particular step, or out of sequence, can reveal the problems associated with the injury. At http://www.neuroskills.com/brain.shtml you'll find a complete list of the parts of the brain, their functions, and how injury may affect them. Also, visit our Brain Map for an interactive tour of the brain.