A news alert your brain needs to know

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Don’t mess with your brain. It may have a hard protective shell but it’s not all that protective when it meets the ground or collides with something unexpected.

Known as a Traumatic Brain Injury the brain is damaged by a concussion. A concussion is some form of impact that disrupts the brain’s ability to function. Results may be mild with disorientation and brief loss of consciousness to severe with unconsciousness, amnesia or permanent brain injury.

Most recently sports concussions have been recognized as a serious threat to professional players who sustain jolts to the head which appear innocuous at the time but have a cumulative effect long after retirement. This has also led to studies of children engaged in interactive sports with and without helmets, who are showing similar symptoms.

Here’s the breakdown from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Yearly Estimates

  • 1.7 million people sustain a Traumatic Brain Injury
  • 30.5% of all injury-related deaths are from Traumatic Brain Injuries
  • 75% are due to concussions or other mild forms of Traumatic Brain Injury
  • Almost half a million (473,947) emergency department by children 0 to 14 years

Most Likely to Experience a Traumatic Brain Injury

  • Males have a higher rate than females in all groups
  • Children aged 0 to 4 years (males, highest emergency, hospitalization, death)
  • Adolescents aged 15 to 19 years
  • Adults aged 65 years and older (75 years +, highest rates hospitalization, death)

Breakdown of Leading Causes 

  • Falls (35.2%)
    • Children ages 0 – 14 years (50%)
    • Adults age 75 + (61%)
  • Motor vehicle – traffic (17.3%)
    • account for 31.8% related deaths
  • Struck by/against events (16.5%)
    • second leading cause for children aged 0 to 14 years (25%)
  • Assaults (10%)
    • 10% of general population
    • 2.9% children 0 to 14 years
    • 1% in adults aged 65 + years

 For military personnel in war zones, blasts are the leading cause of Traumatic Brain Injury

Helmets may not be fashionable nor practical to wear all the time. Take a hint from this brain news alert, and make sure you and your family members protect their brains as much as possible.

After all, everyone has to live with their brain for the rest of their life.

 

Source: www.TraumaticBrainInjuryAtoZ.org

http://www.cdc.gov/TraumaticBrainInjury/index.html

http://www.cdc.gov/traumaticbraininjury/statistics.html