Traumatic brain injury has become the signature injury of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Here at San Francisco Personal Injury Law Answers we have written on this issue often (see Brain Injury Report or Brain Injury & Soldier’s Struggle for example).

Traumatic brain injury has become the signature injury for soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan (Naval Mobile Construction Battalion on a convoy in Iraq in May 2003)

NPR and ProPublica have both produced an excellent series on the issues surrounding traumatic brain injury or TBI and the difficulties that soldiers face getting treatment.

Today, NPR looks at how thousands of soldiers from these wars have been diagnosed with PTSD – post traumatic stress disorder – and how many more go untreated.  But among the soldiers that are treated for PTSD, NPR presents that physicians are discovering that many of these individuals are also suffering from TBI.

The two conditions often have similar symptoms.  According to Dr. Gregory O’Shanick, National Medical Director for the Brain Injury Association of America, who is quoted by NPR as saying, “Fundamentally, PTSD is a disorder where you remember too much, whereas TBI is a disorder where you don’t remember enough[.]”

NPR’s piece makes clear that doctors are working to address each disease as well as understand how each impacts the other.

Sometimes, when kids play sports they get hurt.  Especially in contact sports – kids can sprain ankles, brake bones, and even suffer a concussion or MTBI.  Unfortunately, it happens.  But according to new research, it is happening more often.

Sports related concussions have doubled from 1997 to 2007 for children

As reported by the New York Times, the number of children athletes who have been treated in emergency rooms with sports-related concussions – a mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) – increased two-fold from 1997 to 2007.

And for young athletes aged 14 – 19, MTBI or concussions have tripled during that same time period.

The study was recently published in the journal Pediatrics.  It looks specifically at emergency room visits and treatment of young athletes for concussions.

According to the data collected by the study, there were over 500,000 children (8 – 19) treated in emergency rooms for concussion (MTBI) from 2001 through 2005.

These statistics are alarming.  But consider two additional variables: first, many experts believe that concussions and MTBI in general are under-reported and not all MTBI involve a trip to the ER; second, during the same time period involve in the study, participation in team sports decreased slightly for children.

Traumatic brain injury – both TBI and MTBI (mild traumatic brain injury) – is a serious problems across the country.

MTBI is a serious concerns for NFL players

There are over 1.4 million injury victims treated for brain injuries every year in hospitals and emergency rooms.  And the number of traumatic brain injuries that go untreated every year by most exerts’ estimations is staggering.

We here at San Francisco Personal Injury Law Answers have written about TBI and MTBI often and have discussed the issues around these injuries, the NFL, and youth sports previously – click here and here.

And this problem and these injuries are no greater a concern then with youth athletes.  The National Institutes of Health has declared that we are in the midst of a “national epidemic” of concussions and other head injuries.

And despite stumbling a bit on this issue the NFL has responded in a serious and concerned manner.  And for good reason.  Dan Rather presents an article and video report on the Huffington Post about the problem of mild traumatic brain injury in the NFL and youth sports.

The reason what the NFL does on the issues is so carefully watched is because what the NFL does on this issues has a tendency to “trickle down,” according to Rather’s report, to youth teams and leagues.

Leading the NFL’s Committee charged with addressing this problem are Doctors Richard Ellenbogen and Hunt Batjer – both are preeminent neurosurgeons specializing in mild traumatic brain injuries also known as concussion.

Their goals are simple yet ambitious: better equipment (for instance, helmets with sensors), establish a database on NFL players, tracking retired NFL players for signs of problems related to head injuries and educating the public about head trauma – especially, as Rather’s report points out, where multiple concussions are involved.

Recently, NPR and ProPubica produced a report and series of stories on traumatic brain injuries and how the military is failing our troops in the treatment and diagnosis of these injuries including mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI).

Troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan suffer more traumatic brain injuries than in previous conflicts - 115,000 since the wars began

We here at San Francisco Injury Law Answers covered those stories – see traumatic brain injury report.  Well, it appears that NPR has ruffled some feathers.  As Senators pressed military leaders today in hearings about their attempts to improve efforts at addressing traumatic brain injuries among the troops, the military leaders took issue with NPR’s reporting.

Gen. Peter Chiarelli, the Army’s vice chief of staff, stated that the Army had made strides in addressing both TBI and MTBI and took issue with NPR’s stories.  The General specifically took issue with what he referred to as NPR’s attempts to draw distinctions between traumatic brain injury, or TBI, and post-traumatic stress, or PTS. However, the general pointed to no factual errors in the report or stories.

For the record, in the traumatic brain injury stories produced by NPR and ProPublica they pointed out that TBI and PTSD often overlap and have common symptoms.  But what NPR and ProPublica also did, was to accurately point out that there were military doctors who have expressed suspicion or skepticism regarding mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) and its impact on individuals.

The brain injury stories also pointed out extensive evidence of how military doctors were simply not diagnosing mild traumatic brain injuries, when there was evidence of symptoms, both on the battlefield and after soldiers come home.  General Chiarelli did not dispute these details specifically.

A brain injury study recently published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal is telling people what personal injury attorneys and attorneys who deal with brain injuries have known for quite some time – there is no excuse not to wear a helmet when engaged in a recreational activity – helmets help prevent traumatic brain injuries (TBI).

Helmet use reduces the risk of traumatic brain injury (TBI)

The study looked specifically at the risk of head or brain injury among skies and snowboarders.  In the past some had argued that helmets could actually increase the risk of neck injuries, especially with children due to their greater head to body ratio.  But the study’s findings did not support this position.

Traumatic brain injuries are the leading cause of death among skiers and snowboarders.  And according to Science Daily, head injuries account for 19% of all injuries reported by skiers and snowboarders.

The brain injury study was actually an analysis of 12 different studies from Europe, Asia, and North America.  And what the researchers found was that the use of helmets significantly reduces the risk of traumatic brain injury among skiers and snowboarders – between 2 and 5 out of every 10 head injuries could be prevented.

So, the next time you or your kids decide to hit the slopes – put on the appropriate helmet.

Here at San Francisco Personal Injury Law Answers we commented on an investigation conducted by NPR and ProPublica that found numerous mild traumatic brain injury cases at military bases were going unreported and undiagnosed (click here for traumatic brain injury story).

Fort Bliss

As a response to their investigation and report, three Congressmen from Texas are now looking into those allegations and searching for answers as to why – if our troops are suffering traumatic brain injuries at such alarming rates, why isn’t more being done to treat these injuries?

The Congressman are Rep. Harry Teague (D-N.M.), Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-TX) and Rep. Ciro Rodriguez, (D-TX).  The Congressman sent  a letter to Fort Bliss’ William Beaumont Army Medical Center on Tuesday in which they expressed concern over assertions in NPR’s report that soldiers were encountering “debilitating delays and frustrating bureaucracy” when seeking help for symptoms of mild traumatic brain injuries.

NPR and ProPublica found that often soldiers at Fort Bliss with symptoms of MTBI struggle to receive treatment and even diagnosis.  One of the problems the soldiers struggle with, as reported by NPR, is that mild traumatic brain injuries also called concussions leave no visible signs of damage.  However, we know from brain injury studies that these injuries can have long lasting physical and cognitive problems.

The exact number of troops that have experienced a MTBI is unknown; estimates put the number around 115,000 since 2002.  But according to NPR and ProPublica that number may be much higher.

The three Congressmen who sent a letter to the Fort Bliss Medical Center are part of a bipartisan Congressional caucus that is looking into these injuries among soldiers.  And they have asked the medical commander at Fort Bliss, Col. James Baunchalk, to answer several questions regarding the treatment program at Fort Bliss.

Traumatic brain injury or TBI is a rapidly increasing problem for the military.  And the reasons are pretty clear – problems diagnosing and problems treating TBI.

In the civilian world, where most injury victims who suffer a traumatic brain injury do so as the result of personal injury accidents and falls, aggressive therapy and treatment as soon as possible is seen as the best road to recovery.

Medical evacuation flight from Iraq

But in the military, as NPR and Propublica point out in an ongoing segment, the military often fails to diagnosis TBI and MTBI accurately and soldiers often wait weeks and sometimes months just to get an appointment with a doctor.

In today’s brain injury segment on NPR, the reporters take a close look at Fort Bliss in Texas.  Fort Bliss is a huge military base.  It houses tens of thousands of soldiers and recently received over $3 billion to expand its facilities.  It is the military’s nerve center for troop deployment.

But at Fort Bliss, according to NPR, soldiers diagnosed with TBI often do not receive therapy and treatment that would pass muster in a civilian medical clinic.  And in many cases the doctors treating the soldiers simply don’t buy the soldiers claims of cognitive problems and difficulties.

This is unconscionable. TBI and MTBI are serious injuries that impact millions of personal injury victims annually and TBI has become the signature injury of both the wars in Iraq and Afgahnastan.  These injuries are often devastating and the long lasting effects of TBI are well documented.

Our troops deserve our respect and the best medical care that we can provide them.  They deserve better.

Let’s say you are a coach or a parent, and you have a high school athlete who competes in any number of sports.  Would you be able to recognize the signs and symptoms of a mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) also referred to as a concussion?

CDC provides a heads up guide to TBI. Photo - CDC

Well, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provide lots of useful information regarding traumatic brain injuries and their signs and symptoms including information about MTBI or concussions suffered by young athletes.

For instance, if an athlete experience any type of head injury or fall or even a whiplash type of accident and experiences a headache, nausea, balance problems or dizziness, vision problems including double or fuzzy vision, a sensitivity to light or noise, a feeling of sluggishness, a feeling of being foggy-headed or groggy, concentration or memory problems, or a general state of confusion this should be reported and he or she should be evaluated immediately for a MTBI.

Brain injuries are a very serious problem in today society and all too common among young athletes.  So, visit the CDC’s website and learn as much as possible about MTBI, brain injuries, and how to spot them when necessary.

Doctors and scientist in the San Francisco Bay Area are researching the impact of traumatic brain injury (TBI) and the impact of post-traumatic stress disorder through the VA medical center in Martinez.

Human brain

As reported by the InsideBayArea, the study is backed by approximately $2.6 million in VA grants.  The medical center is under the VA Northern California Health Care System and has provided much study and research intoTBI.

The VA is focusing on traumatic brain injury due to the severity of its effects on military personnel and their families.  TBI is often referred to as the signature injury for the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  And this is largely due to the number of blasts that soldiers are exposed to on the battle field.

Some estimate the number of soldiers who have suffered a brain injury in Iraq and Afghanistan to be in the tens of thousands.  The exact number of injury victims that have suffered mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI), however, is difficult to ascertain due to the tricky aspect of diagnosing this injury.

What the current study in Martinez is focusing on it the difference in what happens to someone when they experience a blast or a pressure wave as opposed to blunt trauma.  The study is also looking at the impact of PTSD symptoms and distinguishing those from issues related to traumatic brain injuries.

The ultimate goal of the brain injury study is to better diagnose, treat, and ultimately rehabilitate brain injury victims.

The brain injury research that is being done by these Bay Area doctors may help personal injury victims who suffer traumatic brain injury as well as soldiers.

Brain injuries – whether they are TBI or MTBI – are not created equal.  The best and most recent illustration of this is the recent brain injuries of celebrities Bret Michaels and Gary Coleman.

Bret Michaels suffered a traumatic brain injury

Both men were in their 40s when they suffered a traumatic brain injury.  But unfortunately, actor Gary Coleman’s injury turned out to be fatal while Bret Michaels is already back at work.

The difference between the two and the impact of brain injuries in general, according to scientist and as reported by New York Daily News, is size and location.  In other words, where the brain injury actually occurs in the brain and the size and type of the initial trauma or hemorrhage can greatly impact the chances of recovery of the victim.

When someone suffers a traumatic brain injury as these two actors did, it is often a cerebral hemorrhage, which can be either a intracranial hemorrhage – which takes place within the brain itself – or a subarachnoid hemorrhage – where the bleed takes place around the lining of the brain.

Brain injury suffered by Gary Coleman was fatal

There are various other factors that impact the effect of a brain injury like the overall health of the victim.  And, the treatment of risk factors as well as the elimination of risk factors can also greatly effect the recovery of the injury victim after a brain injury.

It is well known the actor Gary Coleman had multiple health issues including kidney disease that may have played a role in the outcome of his brain injury.