Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and spinal cord injuries are the leading causes of death among children and young adults from injury. Survivors of this injury suffer not only physical detriments to their health, butalso experience hardships when it comes to relationships, work, and creativity. This is why TBI is called “the silent epidemic.” These effects of the injury may be hard to pin down and attribute to the injury. Also, the effects of TBI reach far beyond the person sustaining the injury. Families of the injured may experience emotional distress and be challenged economically, affecting their futures.
A case of TBI is defined as “either an occurrence of injury to the head that is documented in a medical record with one or more of the following conditions attributed to head injury: 1) observed or self-reported decreased level of consciousness 2) amnesia 3) skull fracture 4) Objective neurological or neuropsychological abnormality 5) diagnosed intracranial lesion”.