Word on Health

Word on Acquired Brain Injury

Our grateful thanks to the brain injury charity, Headway for their assistance with our radio report - which you can hear again via the audio player at the bottom of this page. 

The World Health Organization's definition of acquired brain injury: "Damage to the brain, which occurs after birth and is not related to a congenital or a degenerative disease. These impairments may be temporary or permanent and cause partial or functional disability or psychosocial maladjustment.

An acquired brain injury may be caused by external blows, jolts or penetrating wounds (also known as traumatic brain injury), stroke, heart attack, infections producing high temperatures, brain tumours, loss of consciousness, loss of oxygen to the brain from choking, near drowning or other anoxic conditions."

At present every 90 seconds someone across the UK is taken to hospital with an acquired brain injury. 

It's believed 1.3 million people in the UK are living with the long term consequences of brain injury but the true number is unclear. 

What is clear is that public awareness of brain injury is poor even though anyone of us could have a brain injury.  To find out more see the hyperlink below.

Effects of brain injury.  A brain injury can lead to a wide range of effects. While many people recover quickly after a minor head injury (often known as concussion), this is not always the case and people may experience longer-term effects. 

The more severe the brain injury, the longer-term and more pronounced the effects are likely to be. Some people may spend time in a coma, or experience a more prolonged reduced awareness state. During the early stages of recovery, brain injury survivors often go through a stage called Post-traumatic amnesia, where they have no continuous memory of day-to-day events and their behaviour may be very uncharacteristic and confused. 

A brain injury can cause behavioural and emotional changes, hormonal imbalances, difficulties with cognition and memory, a range of communication problems, physical effects and, very commonly, fatigue.    

To improve your knowledge of brain injury or to gain help and support click here to connect through to Headway.

Listen to this weeks radio report

All material on this website is provided for your information only and may not be construed as medical advice or instruction. No action or inaction should be taken based solely on the contents of this information; instead, readers should consult appropriate health professionals on any matter relating to their health and well-being.