Each year as many as 1 million people attending hospital in the UK will have sustained a head injury. Of these, about 135,000 are confirmed as having a traumatic brain injury and are admitted to hospital.
Those most at risk are people in the 15-29 age group, particularly males. The most common causes of traumatic brain injury are: road traffic collisions, accidents during leisure pursuits or at work, assaults and falls. The brain can also be damaged by other causes such as stroke, haemorrhage or infection.
It is very hard for families to cope with injuries like these. They may also face financial challenges resulting from loss of employment and their own caring responsibilities.
The effects of a brain injury can be wide ranging, and depend on a number of factors such as the type, location and severity of injury. Every person’s injury is unique, they will experience any number of symptoms, which can range from mild to severe.
Cognitive: The cognitive effects are ways a person thinks, learns and remembers. Different mental abilities are located in different parts of the brain, so a head injury can damage some, but not necessarily all, skills such as speed of thought, memory, understanding, concentration, solving problems and using language.
Emotion and behaviour: Everyone who has had a head injury can be left with some changes in emotional reaction and behaviour. These are more difficult to see than obvious problems such as those which affect movement and speech, but can be the most difficult for the individual concerned to deal with.
Physical: Most people make a good physical recovery after a brain injury, although there are often physical problems present that are not always so apparent, but can have a real impact on daily life.
The short film below ‘An Introduction to brain injury’ is produced by BIRT and they have kindly given us permission to include the film on our site.
For assistance and support after a brain injury contact us.