There has recently been a lot of discussion around former footballers suffering from brain injuries and links are being made to conditions in the sport. A lot retire and find they suffer memory loss, depression and the suicide rate is high.
It is not only football players who suffer brain injuries, and it is found that a traumatic brain injury is a major cause of disability and even death in the United States. A recent figure showed that there are up to 52,000 deaths annually out of the 1.7 million who receive a serious injury. A major question surrounds the outcome for the ones that survive.
The brain is a delicate organ and, unfortunately, it does not take much to knock its chemistry out of alignment. Even though receiving a concussion may be a tiny blip in most people’s memories, the ramifications of the injury can follow them for the rest of their lives.
To be defined as a traumatic brain trauma, there has to be an external injury to the brain, and this can happen in many ways. It could be sport related, or could be as simple as hitting a piece of furniture as the result of a fall. Strokes don’t fall into the same category as this is not caused by something happening to the head but rather something inside the skull.
Percentage wise falls make up 40% of TBIs while 15% were as a result of accidentally being hit by something. Car accidents were 14.3% and assault 10.7%. When the impact occurs the person may lose consciousness, feel dizzy or at worse, become comatose. Other symptoms may seem unusual for the injury and include vomiting and depression.
Possibly the most frightening piece of information is that anyone who has suffered a TBI is three times more likely to kill themselves than another citizen.
Story Via; Psychologytoday.com
