Brain Injury

A brain injury is a neurological condition in which the brain has sustained some form of an injury.  There are two types of brain injury: traumatic brain injury and acquired brain injury. 

A traumatic brain injury (TBI) is caused by an external physical force to the head such as a fall or a motor vehicle accident.  An estimated 1.5 million Americans sustain a traumatic brain injury each year.  An acquired brain injury (ABI) is caused by a neurological event that originates within the head such as a stroke, an aneurysm, or an infection.  Approximately 600,000 Americans have a stroke every year.

Initially, a brain injury may cause an alteration or loss of consciousness that may last for a short time or even remain for a prolonged period of time.  A person in a coma has been unconscious for a prolonged time and cannot be awakened by normal means.  A person recovering from a coma may not be aware of his or her surroundings although his/her eyes might be open.  Muscle jerking may also occur involuntarily, even in response to pain.  The rehabilitation goal for a person emerging from a coma is to improve the person’s arousal and responsiveness by gently stimulating his or her senses. 

The effect of a brain injury and the amount of time an individual will experience symptoms as a result of his or her brain injury will vary depending on several factors such as the location and the severity of his or her injury.  Please select the following links for a further description of some of the cognitive (link to Appendix 5), physical (link to Appendix 6), emotional (link to Appendix 7), and behavioral changes (link to Appendix 8)a person may experience after sustaining a brain injury

Cognitive changes may include:

• Short-term memory loss
• Long-term memory loss
• Slowed ability to process information
• Decreased thinking skills
• Trouble concentrating or paying attention for periods of time
• Difficulty keeping up with a conversation
• Communication difficulties such as word-finding problems
• Disorientation to time and place
• Trouble with visual thinking skills
• Organizational problems
• Impaired judgment
• Inability to do more than one thing at a time
• Decreased initiation for activities
• Difficulty in completing tasks without reminders
• Getting stuck saying or doing the same thing repeatedly
• Difficulty remembering or recognizing family members
  

Physical changes may include:

• Muscle paralysis (weakness)
• Muscle tightness or spasms
• Change or loss of sensation
• Double vision or low vision, blindness
• Loss of smell or taste
• Speech impairments such as slow or slurred speech
• Difficulty chewing solids or swallowing liquids
• Fatigue, increased need for sleep, insomnia
• Balance problems
• Bowel and bladder problems
• Changes in sexual functioning
• Headaches
• Seizures
  

Emotional changes may include:

• Increased anxiety
• Feelings of guilt
• Feelings of shame
• Depression or mood swings
• Egocentric behaviors; difficulty seeing others’ point of view or seeing how behaviors can affect others
• Difficulty controlling emotions
• Irritabilit

Behavioral changes may include:

• Agitation, restlessness
• Impulsive behavior, poor safety judgment
• Combativeness
• Physical aggression, verbal aggression
• Lack of cooperation

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