1. What is Brain Injury?
- Loss of consciousness,
- Paraesthesia in arms and legs,
- Loss of strength,
- Dizziness, nausea and vomiting,
- And seizures are the main symptoms of brain injury.
Situations like potential loss of strength in arms and legs because of brain injury are the symptoms which can be detected at the first glance. On the other hand, brain injury also causes some mental, emotional and behavioural symptoms and this situation may be difficult to be understood by the patients and people around them.
2. Reasons of Brain Injury
The reasons of brain injury may be classified as traumatic and non-traumatic injuries.
Traumatic Brain Injuries: These are also known as intracranial injuries; these are matters of brain injury as a result of an outside force.
- Physical damages caused by falling,
- Traffic and occupational accidents,
- Gunshot wounds,
- Assaults can cause traumatic brain injury.
Non-Traumatic Brain Injuries:
- Damages caused by brain tumour,
- Infection of cerebral cortex or white matter (meningitis or encephalitis),
- Poisoning from stove gas, other gases or lead,
- Cerebral hypoxia because of cardiac arrest (hypoxic – anoxic ischemic brain injury),
- Degenerative neurological diseases like Alzheimer, Parkinson, Huntington may cause brain injury.
3. What are the symptoms of brain injury?
- Symptoms like loss or clouding of consciousness,
- Paraesthesia in arms and legs,
- Loss of strength,
- Dizziness, nausea and vomiting,
- Seizures may be the symptoms of brain injury.
4. Can Brain Injury be treated?
Yes, while the deaths caused by traumatic brain injury have been diminished with the advancement of surgical and emergency support methods, the cognitive and physical function losses caused by brain injury can be treated with the methods of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation, Robotic Rehabilitation and Neurological Rehabilitation.
The recovery after brain injury continues rapidly up to two years. An application of intensive physical therapy and rehabilitation at a neurological rehabilitation service maximizes the recovery. While the recovery may be rapid in the first two years after the brain injury, a recovery potential may show up in any period in these patients. Even in the persons with permanent cognitive and physical inefficiency, the abilities can be re-developed. For this reason, it is important to follow-up the patients with brain injury with a multidisciplinary team consisted of the specialists of physical therapy and rehabilitation, neurology, brain surgery and psychiatry.
The applications of Neurological Rehabilitation, Robotic Rehabilitation and Physical Therapy maximize the recovery of the patients with brain injury.
5. Does brain renew itself?
As a result of brain injuries, cases of tissue loss happen in the brain, and some functions may be lost because of this situation. The lost functions may not be regained immediately. On the other hand, the brain has an ability to reorganize itself. This ability is named as neuroplasticity or brain plasticity. Thanks to this ability, the solid tissues of brain may undertake the lost function by reorganizing themselves. Repetitive and task oriented exercises, robotic rehabilitation and neurological rehabilitation practices support neuroplasticity.
