healthsection Health Topics A-Z Healthy Living Featured Conditions eHow Now eHow Health Conditions & Treatments Brain & Nervous System Brain Injury Treatments Valerie Dansereau Valerie Dansereau has experience writing both fiction and nonfiction. Her writing career began with writing stories for confession magazines. She has written a wide variety of online articles about health, home business, parenting and self-help. She attended Fitchburg State College in Massachusetts and has over 20 years of banking experience, including writing loan operations manuals for two banks. Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is usually caused by a violent blow to the head. It could also be caused by an object entering brain tissue, such as a bullet. Injuries can be minor and heal without treatment, or they can be major. Major injuries can result in profound injury and disability or even death. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, over one million people experience a traumatic brain injury annually in the United States. Of these, approximately 50,000 die. The CDC estimates that over five million people in the United States have a long-term need for assistance in performing routing daily activities due to a brain injury. About 75 percent of the brain injuries sustained … Continue reading →

Brain damage is an injury that causes the destruction or deterioration of brain cells. In the U.S., every year, about 1.5 million people have some type of brain injury. And approximately 5.3 million people suffer from the effects of brain damage. About 50,000 die as a result of brain injury. Medical costs and lost productivity are estimated at between $48 billion and $60 billion per year. All traumatic brain injuries are head injuries. But head injury is not necessarily brain injury. There are two types of brain injury: traumatic brain injury and acquired brain injury. Both disrupt the brains normal functioning. Both traumatic brain injury and acquired brain injury occur after birth. And neither is degenerative. Sometimes, the two terms are used interchangeably. There is a kind of brain damage that results from genetics or birth trauma. It's called congenital brain damage. It is not included, though, within the standard definition of brain damage or traumatic brain injury. Some brain injuries cause focal -- or localized -- brain damage, such as the damage caused when a bullet enters the brain. In other words, the damage is confined to a small area. Closed head injuries frequently cause diffuse brain damage, which … Continue reading →