Traumatic Brain Injury and Recovery
May 29, 2009 by mcole
I am often asked clinical questions pertaining to traumatic brain injury (TBI). There are two major types of TBI that include closed head injury (CHI) in which the skull is struck and does not fracture. The second type is known as open head injury in which the skull is struck and fractures (split the head open). Sometimes an open head injury is advantageous as it permits room for the predictable swelling or edema that occurs with head injuries. The problem with an open head injury is high risk for infection.
Closed head injuries are caused by a blow to the head from a motor vehicle accident, sports such as football, hockey, and even soccer, falls, and being hit by an instrument or other object. The brain sits in a liquid medium called cerebral spinal fluid and it will move inside the skull with an accelerating and then decelerating force. The brain can be injured at the site of the trauma (coup) and also on the opposite side of the brain as it moves in the liquid medium and hits against the skull (contracoup). As the skull is most rugged in the front and temporal skull regions with a smoother surface in the rear of the skull, it is common to experience cognitive and behavioral changes related to damage in the fronto-temporal region.
Such changes in cognition from a closed head injury typically involve memory, attention, and personality change. It is difficult to predict behavioral and cognitive changes related to open head injuries until the site of the damage is clearly known. Other factors such as loss and duration of loss of consciousness and memory loss that predates the time of the injury (retrograde amnesia) and post-dates the injury (anterograde amnesia) relate to extent and severity of the brain injury.
Treatment for TBI includes medication, surgery, speech, occupational, and physical therapy, and time. Improved function and cognition occurs primarily in the first year post injury, but improvement can continue to occur into the third year. Little is known about the effects of a proactive brain health lifestyle and or the consistent use of cognitive-based mental exercise software on recovery. This is an empirical question that is generating interest and attention.
The brain will heal to some degree, hopefully to a complete recovery, and one should not discount lifestyle for brain health and use of cognitive exercises to help in the process.
Dr. Paul Nussbaum
fit brains
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Comments
Traumatc Brain Injury
May 29, 2009 by Anonymous, 25 weeks 6 days ago
Comment: 36917
I am a female, injured my brain in 79', a Traumatic Closed Head Injury, I was 16yrs.old unconscious for 7-9mnths--2/3 years before I could put everything together. But with Prayer all over the world that I would live, THANK-YOU JESUS!, I'm a healthy, with some head-aches and emotional changes, I Iimp on my right leg when I get tired, and I hold my right arm close, but I lead a normal life. I was in a wheelchair for 3------long years! But with the help of my Jesus and the Shunt in my brain, my Neurosurgeon told me it probably wasn't working anymore. I was right - handed, now left, thank God I have that, I'm still s-l-o-w-e-r than I need to be to work anyplace and under pressure. I also have eyeritus which causes head-aches. But I'm BLESSED WITH TWO KIDS, normal-delivery, my son is 20yrs., Sophmore at the University of Akron, and my daughter will be a freshman at St. Leo's University in Florida in September. They, along with my husband, have been my REHAB. They've forced me to get-back all that I am, writing TONS of NOTES to help me remember and other cues, like a screaming HUSBAND, can't blame him, I'm really THANKFUL!! That's my CURE to Traumatic Brain-Stem Injury, I won't stop getting better now, Praise you Jesus!! I need to find out if Brain Stimulation is my next step? We all want everything instant, it's not meant to be, I've had to learn a lot of PATIENCE with myself along with others too.I'm ALIVE!!
Thank you for giving us hope
September 30, 2009 by Anonymous, 8 weeks 23 hours ago
Comment: 45137
Our son fell from the rooftop in 2007. He was 24 years old then, and just graduated from mechanical engineering. As a result of his fall he fractured his skull and severely injured his brain. He had numerous complications and secondary brain swelling while at ICU and had become uncouncious for 3 months. After a year in hospitals he came home. His prognosis for recovery have been very guarded but we've never lost our hopes and do all we can to help him in his recovery. He improves at a very slow rate but steady.
Your letter gives us new hope and energy to do more.
You getting better has
June 7, 2009 by Anonymous, 24 weeks 4 days ago
Comment: 37103
You getting better has nothing to do with a fictional character from a 2000 year old fictional novel, thank your own strength of character and modern medical science. Thanking a higher power for a medical marvel is for ignorant North Koreans and Americans.