Category Archives: Brain Injury Treatment

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said Thursday that the league would be open to allowing players to use medical marijuana if experts could show that it helped treat concussions. Im not a medical expert, Goodell said at a news conference announcing 16 winners of $300,000 grants to advance scientific research into the study and treatment of traumatic brain injury. We will obviously follow signs. We will follow medicine, and if they determine this could be a proper usage in any context, we will consider that. Our medical experts are not saying that right now. The drug is currently banned by the league as part of its collective bargaining agreement with the players. Marijuana was recently legalized in Colorado and Washington. The two teams that will play in the Feb. 2 Super Bowl at MetLife Stadium the Broncos and Seahawks are from those states. I dont know whats going to develop as far as the next opportunity for medicine to evolve and to help either deal with pain or help deal with injuries, Goodell said. But we will continue to support the evolution of medicine. A report on HBOs Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel on Tuesday estimated that as many as 60 … Continue reading →

Published: Friday, January 24, 2014 at 6:07 p.m. Last Modified: Friday, January 24, 2014 at 6:07 p.m. University of Florida athletes who suffer head injuries will immediately be given a blood test that shows the severity of a possible brain injury under research funded by the NFL and GE to improve the diagnosis and treatment of concussions. Banyan Biomarkers, an Alachua-based company that makes a blood test for traumatic brain injury, was one of 16 companies to receive $300,000 through the NFL and GEs Head Health Challenge. Six companies, including Banyan Biomarkers, could be eligible for an additional $500,000 in 2015. Banyan Biomarkers will work with Dr. Jay Clugston, a physician for UF teams, and other UF researchers to do finger-stick blood draws on consenting UF football, womens soccer and womens lacrosse players, according to a news release from UF. The blood tests will be compared with magnetic resonance imaging findings. The goal is to create a test to diagnose brain injuries within 30 minutes to determine whether a player should return to the game. Not only does an injured player sometimes appear to be fine, but he or she may try to conceal symptoms in their competitive zeal to … Continue reading →

FORT BRAGG, N.C. Fort Bragg personnel on Friday celebrated the groundbreaking of a new center to research, diagnose and treat brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder for military men and women. The Fort Bragg Intrepid Spirit Center is the fourth center of its type in the nation. Fort Braggs commander, Lt. Gen. Joseph Anderson, said the horrors of war speak for themselves, but many other factors can contribute to PTSD in service members. Many complicating factorscan contribute to how you get it, he said. And then the question becomes the challenges of helping them heal, recover. Traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress is a different kind of wound, said Arnold Fisher with the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund. Its unseen. Apparently, because its unseen, very many people dont understand it. Anderson said he expects the center to treat more than 1,000 soldiers a year. Doctors are finding new ways to treat PTSD and other brain-related illnesses and injuries. Sleep is critical to healing, said James Kelly, director of the National Intrepid Center of Excellence. We do sleep analysis, overnight sleep studies on every single patient. And were finding that targeting that particular problem for them really turns around a lot of … Continue reading →

What is a Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI)? http://www.injurylawyercanada.com/blog/what-is-a-mild-traumatic-brain-injury/ 70-90% of brain injuries are considered "mild". It is important to realize, how... By: Roger R. Foisy … Continue reading →

San Diego, CA (PRWEB) January 23, 2014 As a highly successful personal injury law firm in California that has represented many injured NFL players, Mitchell & Shea has been focused on the latest developments in the $765 million dollar settlement between the NFL and more than 4,500 former NFL players. The players sued the league over issues related to concussions and brain injuries. They argued that they were not informed or protected effectively enough while playing in the NFL. The settlement was announced in August. The judge presiding over the settlement, Anita B. Brody of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, recently put the settlement on hold until more specific details are disclosed. Patrick Shea of Mitchell & Shea says "the NFL seems to have made a good faith effort to provide for these players and to invest in making safety a higher priority. However, Judge Brody has identified some significant problems with the settlement. The settlement should provide fair compensation to players, provide for extensive research into head injury issues and support education efforts. $765 million may sound like a lot of money but, realistically, it may not accomplish what is necessary." Several players … Continue reading →

Each year 50,000 Americans die from brain trauma and another 275,000 are hospitalized, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. After retired race car star Michael Schumacher severely injured his head in a fall while skiing last month, doctors in France removed part of his skull to relieve dangerous swelling in his brain. How much their treatment will help in the long run is an open question. Aggressive care for head injury can keep some patients alive and maximize the odds of recovery by preventing further damage. Even so, treatment often remains elusive -- an invasive, hit-or-miss process that requires months or years of rehabilitation with uncertain results. Each year 50,000 Americans die from brain trauma and another 275,000 are hospitalized, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Attempts to make drugs to protect injured brain cells have so far failed, so doctors main recourse to prevent the damage from spreading is relieving pressure inside the skull as well as removing blood clots. We desperately need a breakthrough, said Peter Andrews, a critical care specialist at the University of Edinburgh. Schumacher, 45, a seven-time Formula One champion, was placed in an induced coma by … Continue reading →

From Alzheimer's and stroke patients to spinal cord injury victims, new technology developed by Gong Chen and his research team at Penn State has the potential to repair neuron damage caused by brain injuries and neurological disorders. Dean Andrew Stephenson, distinguished professor of biology and associate dean for research and graduate education, said while this technology is still at least five to 10 years away from being a therapy, it has great potential. This is early stages, but it is an extremely promising breakthrough, Stephenson said. Chen, professor of biology and Verne M. Willaman chair in life sciences, said this technology has the ability to help people who suffered from strokes or spinal cord injuries and it could also help Alzheimers patients. If we can help them to regenerate new neurons and those new neurons can form new memories, they may be able to recognize their sons or daughters again and form new memories, Chen said. For Alli Winslow (freshman-business), this technology could make a difference for her family. Winslow said she watched her grandmother suffer from Alzheimers, unable to recognize her daughter or granddaughter. Any kind of research development Im always interested in learning more about. Alzheimers is genetic … Continue reading →

South Yorkshire Police has admitted failings after a Wath man hit over the head with a metal pole was left in a cell for ten hours without medical treatment. Dean Hutton suffered serious brain damage in an attack by brothers Brett and James Garbutt in Rotherham in 2009 but was arrested and taken to a police station, where he was dismissed as drunk. The 26-year-old, who now needs lifelong care, has taken the next step in his battle for justice as the police admitted their failure to get him treatment sooner led to his further suffering. Paramedics checked Dean at the scene but when police arrived they arrested him for missing a traffic offence court appearance and he was taken to the station and put in a cell. It was only after his condition deteriorated over ten hours that he was eventually taken to hospital, where it emerged he had a fractured skull and bleeding to his brain. Visit link: Police admit fault as Wath man, 26, is left brain damaged … Continue reading →

Current ratings for: Speech uses both sides of brain Public / Patient: 4 (1 vote) Health Professionals: 4 (1 vote) Many scientists believe we only use one side of our brain for speech and language. Now, a new study from the US shows that as far as speech is concerned, we use both sides. The study poses a significant challenge to current thinking about brain activity and could have important implications for developing treatment and rehabilitation to help people recover speech after stroke or injury, say the researchers from New York University (NYU) and NYU Langone Medical Center. Senior author Bijan Pesaran, an associate professor in the Center for Neural Science at NYU, says: "Our findings upend what has been universally accepted in the scientific community - that we use only one side of our brains for speech. In addition, now that we have a firmer understanding of how speech is generated, our work toward finding remedies for speech afflictions is much better informed." As well as listening and speaking, speech involves language for constructing and understanding sentences. Thus most studies conclude that speech, like language, happens on one side of the brain. And these studies rely on indirect measurement … Continue reading →

A new treatment for traumatic brain injury? Flick On a Cybernetic Prosthetic Implant Like a "light switch" for a damaged brain, Dr. Randolph Nudo talks to Not Impossible about the Cybernetic Implant he and fellow researchers at Kansas Univers... By: Not Impossible … Continue reading →