Traumatic Brain Injury Support Page

65 million. What a crazy number, right? That is so many people! That is also many people currently live with a TBI in the United States. You can also break it down to 1 in every 60 people. Every year nearly 3 million people suffer a traumatic brain injury. What most people don’t realize is that more than 5 million people in this country are living with the long-term effects. More than 5 million people are considered disabled due to their TBI. 

Brain injuries however, aren't rare. They are actually pretty common. They are also one of the most mis-understood public health crisis in our country as well as one of the most unknown and misunderstood disabilities within communities across the US.

There are three severity levels of a brain injury. First, I want you to keep in mind that the brain is an organ that floats in water, many of us know that. But did you know that our brain is actually the consistency of room temperature butter? When you think of it like that, you realize that the brain isn't that difficult to injure.

The three severity levels of a brain injury are 1. Mild concussion 2.Moderate 3.Severe - A moderate injury can involve a contusion, bruising. A severe injury is a diffuse axonal. An injury can involve a hematoma or hemorrhage (brain bleed).

There are three types of brain bleeds. There is a epidural hematoma - bleeding between the skull and the outer brain tissue. Subdural hematoma - bleeding between the brain and the dura (outer protective layer).Subarachoid hemorrhage - bleeding around the brain and intracerebral hemorrhage - bleeding inside the brain tissue itself.

Additionally an anoxic or ishemic injury is not considered traumatic, but is still a brain injury. An Anoxic brain injury when oxygen is completely blocked from the brain for a period of time. This injury typically occurs during a cardiac arrest, choking, drowning or other severe medical events. An Ishemic injury occurs when the brain receives some oxygen but not enough because blood flow has been reduced or blocked. This injury is common with strokes, blood clots or types of trauma that my hinder circulation to the brain.

Common causes with a concussion may be a hit to the head, a mild car accident, a sports injury, a pedestrian or bicycle injury. Even though this is considered a mild brain injury the effects can still last a long time, especially if someone has had several concussions in their life.

Common causes to a brain bruise (contusion)  may be a fall, a severe blow to the head, vehicle accident or being struck by an object. This happens when blood vessels break and cause localized bleeding and swelling in the brain.

A diffuse axonal injury happens when the brain rapidly shifts and rotates inside the skull. This injury is common in high speed vehicle collisions, pedestrian vs vehicle impacts, serious falls or violent or shaken forces. 

This can lead to the victims loss of consciousness, a coma or medically induced coma and severe cognitive and physical impairments.

Different parts of the brain can be affected with your injury. Since different parts of your brain controls different parts of your body the range of impact can be rather wide spread. There is your frontal lobe, temporal lobe, parietal lobe and the occipital lobe.

It's incredibly important to understand that two people can have the same brain injury but also have two completely different outcomes and experience very different long term effects. Brain injuries are completely individualized which is why proper medical care, proper recovery needs, advocacy and support as well as public/community awareness is so important.

Roughly 50%  (2 - 3 million)of severe TBI survivors have long term cognitive impairments that they carry with them for the rest of their life. This can include memory loss, difficulty concentrating, slowed thinking, trouble finding words, slowed possessing of situations happening around them or to them, personality and behavior changes, impulsivity and emotional regulation struggles. These are symptoms that are considered "Invisible disability symptoms." Things that the survivor will deal with that aren't noticed unless you are around them frequently.

Every year in the United states, roughly 9,000 pedestrians are diagnosed with a severe TBI after being struck by a vehicle.

Traumatic brain injuries are the most common cause of acquired disabilities in children, in the US. Additionally, pedestrian, bicyclist and motor vehicle collisions are the leading cause for TBI related deaths in the US.

You will be able to find more education about TBI's in detail over on our "Pause" blog linked - HERE- We will update over there frequently, so be sure to check back often if this is a topic that matters to you.