Tag Archives: brain injury
What Steps Can You Take to Leading A Normal Life After Brain Injury?
When someone becomes the victim of a traumatic brain injury (TBI), his post-injury abilities and chances for a successful recovery will depend in great part on the severity and location of the injury. That’s because different areas of the brain are responsible for different functions. So, depending on where the brain has been injured, the victim could lose his sense of touch, hearing, ability to focus or balance, and even his personality could drastically change. A brain injury certainly can impact a person’s life in countless ways, but if the more than 3 million people in the United States who are living with a brain injury are any example, life …
Study Examines Age and Brain Injury Risks of Children
A recently reported study may help parents and others to protect their children from head and brain injuries. Researchers from the Washington University School of Medicine, University of California-Davis School of Medicine and others conducted the study, “Epidemiology of Blunt Head Trauma in Children in U.S. Emergency Departments.” The researchers reported their findings in the November 2014 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. The study examined 43,399 cases of blunt head trauma among children through 17. Based on their findings, the researchers were able to delineate by age what type of accidents were most likely to serve as the cause a child’s head injury. Overall, falls proved to …
Are NFL’s Concussion and Domestic Violence Problems Linked?
Several articles have come out in early September examining whether there may be a connection between two problems currently plaguing the National Football League: Concussions and domestic violence. Concussions are a mild form of traumatic brain injury (TBI). They have been a major problem in the NFL – and all levels of the sport – for many years. In 2013 alone, 228 concussions were diagnosed among NFL players, according to the league’s annual Health & Safety Report. The problem has recently received heightened attention due to research indicating a link between repeated concussions and brain disease such as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). Additionally, the NFL is now facing a class-action …
Back to College Means Back to Accidents
As parents say goodbye to their children heading back to college, or area residents welcome students back to schools, our thoughts turn to college students and the cars they drive. More specifically, there is reason to be concerned about the increase in car accidents and traumatic brain injury (TBI) when college students return to school. About 70 percent of college-age students own or have access to cars, according to College Parents of America. In addition to increased congestion in areas around college campuses once fall semester begins, there is typically an increase in accidents, including accidents that can cause TBI. “For many students, the first year of college is a …
Prevention and Treatment of Brain Injuries in Babies and Toddlers
Children are society’s most vulnerable population, so stories of a baby or toddler being injured naturally trigger strong emotions. When a child suffers a brain injury, those emotions often go into overdrive because, unlike other types of injuries, those impacting the brain can lead to developmental impairment, lifelong challenges, and even death. Sadly, brain injuries among young children are not entirely uncommon. In fact, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), between 2001 and 2010, children aged 0-4 had the highest rates of brain injury resulting in a hospital emergency room visit. So, what is being done to prevent and mitigate brain injuries in very young children? …
Don’t Become a Statistic: Reduce Brain Injuries by Stopping Texting and Driving
Five seconds. That’s about how long a driver takes his or her eyes off the road when reading or responding to a text. It doesn’t seem like a very long period of time until you realize that, at 55 mph, 5 seconds is the equivalent of driving the length of a football field while blindfolded. Texting while driving is hands down the most dangerous form of distracted driving because it requires the use of manual, visual, and cognitive skills. The driver’s eyes, hands and focus are off the road, leaving him or her vulnerable, as well as anyone else who’s in the car or unlucky enough to be on the …
Music and Your Brain: A Deadly Lullaby of Distracted Driving
Once the first car radio was rolled out by Gavin Corporation (Motorola) in 1930, there was no turning back. Since then, we’ve been accompanied on our drives by music from retractable record players, 8-track and cassette players, satellite radio, MP3 players, and iPODs. Technology doesn’t come without its downside, though. Auto accidents caused by distracted drivers injured an estimated 421,000 people in 2012, and listening to music while driving was a factor in many of those accidents. It’s estimated that 9 people die every day as a result of distracted driving, which can include anything from changing the song on the radio to talking to a passenger, or placing a …
Texting While Driving Vs. Drunk Driving: Which Is More Dangerous?
For decades, drunk driving has been at the forefront of debate. Stricter laws have been passed across the nation leading to a decrease in drunk driving accidents. However, a new driving threat is quickly taking its place. That threat is texting while driving – and many say that it is actually more dangerous than drunk driving. Comparing The Two: Texting While Driving Is Like Drinking 4 Beers The impairments associated with drunk driving and texting while driving are similar, according to the National Highway & Transportation Administration (NHTSA) website, distraction.org. Both cause distraction and impaired driving that can result in following too closely, not being able to brake on time …
Spinal Cord Injuries
The Worst Thing That Can Happen Over the course of the years, I have been told that some people, recovering from surgery or unconsciousness after a bad accident, can be heard to say, “Please don’t let me survive a bad car accident. If I can’t walk (or use my hands, or move) I don’t want to live.” I come by this information second-hand: my daughter is a nurse. The tragic truth is that a surprising number of paraplegics (paralysis in the lower half of the body) and quadriplegics (paralysis below the neck) make the decision to live only because their loved ones want them so. In their hearts, in the …
Traumatic Brain Injury Linked to Homelessness
Who Are the Homeless? It sounds just as tragic as it is, with hundreds – perhaps even thousands – of Americans falling into the ever-widening, recession-driven cracks in the protective services webs. Those who fall are most commonly between the ages of 17 and 75. The cohort, comprised of 900 homeless men and women, shows that the odds of ending up on the street are fully 58 percent. For women, the figures are lower, at 42 percent. This could be related to the preponderance of males living at the fringes of society, or it might correlate to the fact that men are most often involved in the sorts of activities …
