The Silent Epidemic Called Brain Injury
By Anna Peterson
Monday, February 28, 2005
Every 21 seconds, someone in the United States suffers a
brain injury. Brain injuries are the number one cause of death and disability
for people under the age of 44. Despite the high prevalence of brain injuries,
there is still little public awareness of them.
Referred to as a 'silent epidemic' by the Centers for Disease Control, there are
5.3 million Americans living with disabilities from a brain injury. Though it is
simple to see the many number of lives brain injuries take when looking at the
numbers, there are additional issues that compound the basic injury. For instance, a person living with brain injury must adjust their lives
to the emotional, physical and cognitive problems that can arise after the
accident. These are things like short and long term memory loss and learning difficulties
that can become a part of everyday life.
Because of the magnitude of the problem, brain trauma has
remained largely unknown by the American public. There are currently 5.3 million
individuals - a little more than 2 percent of the U.S. population - living with a
disability resulting from a traumatic brain injury. When considering an
individual's family and the necessary circle of support, brain injury touches
the lives of approximately one in every 10 persons in the United States. The
annual statistics of brain injury are staggering:
According to a neuropsychologist brain injury rehabilitation specialist, a brain
injury often forces a person to no longer know their former self. Because of the
brain trauma caused by automobile accidents, aneurysms, falls or any other
accident, the impairment left can be devastating, ranging from physical and
emotions problems to things like speech impediments, seizures and memory loss.
Most of the information learned about brain injuries has been discovered in
recent years, though much still remains unknown. By studying brain injury
survivors, experts have been able to uncover much more information. Scientists,
until fairly recently, did not know the brain could repair itself, which has
changed the way brain injury patients are attended to following the accident.
It is better understood today the way the brain changes and can compensate
following a brain injury. The swelling and neurochemical changes that are
present after a brain injury can sometimes cause more damage, so research has
been focused on how to control injuries from worsening directly after the
accident.
Patients that go through brain injury rehabilitation will mainly focus on
teaching the brain new ways to function. The excruciating process can take years
in behavior and cognitive therapy to relearn seemingly elementary things that
were understood at childhood.
