New Traumatic Brain Injury Research Helps TBI Treatment and Prevention

Professional Sports Respond to Traumatic Brain Injury Risk A recent traumatic brain injury has forced American bobsled driver Todd Hays to retire. Hays, a silver medalist and 2010 Olympic hopeful, sustained a significant head injury during an accident that occurred while training. Initially diagnosed as a concussion, further testing revealed that Hays has an intraparenchymal hematoma, a serious brain injury where the brain bleeds due to suffering trauma.

Excess bleeding increases pressure on the brain resulting in strokes, which is reason for concern regarding the potentially life-threatening injury. Although a full recovery is expected, Hays will be forced to retire as an added precaution to prevent further brain damage.

Hays's accident occurred a week after the National Football Association announced an updated policy on concussion management. Under the new guidelines, if a player shows signs of a concussion, the player will be removed from practice or the game. According to a previous policy, players could return to a game - including the same game in which the injury occurred - as soon as symptoms disappeared.

In October 2009, the United States Congress conducted a hearing on how the NFL handled concussion treatment, which may have prompted the head injury guideline update.

Traumatic brain injuries (TBI), including concussions, are serious injuries that currently do not have a cure. Although concussions are one of many types of TBIs, frequent head injuries can make individuals more concussion prone, which may impact his or her health as they grow older. According to the Center for Disease Control, other brain disorders, such as Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's Disease, are more likely to develop in a TBI patient. Brain injuries can occur in both men and women, however men are more likely to sustain a TBI.

Congress Receives Call to Action These high-profile head injuries have brought attention to sports-related concussions and other traumatic brain injuries; however TBIs are a cause for concern among younger generations as well. Sixteen-year-old Niki Popyer has teamed up with two former NFL players to ask Congress to draft legislation developing guidelines to control and manage concussions in school sports. The Concussion Treatment and Care Tools Act, or ConTACT Act, would establish a grant program so states have the financial means to prevent, diagnose and treat sports-related concussions in schools.

Popyer can no longer play basketball due sustaining more than 11 concussions, seven of which resulted from playing the sport. But she's not alone. Recent statistics show that a traumatic brain injury occurs once every 23 seconds in the United States. Teenagers between the ages of 15 and 19 years old and infants and toddlers age zero to four are most at risk to sustain a traumatic brain injury. Brain injuries occur in close to 20 percent of high school athletes each season.

Although a variety of causes can contribute to a traumatic brain injury - including falls, auto accidents, being struck by or against an object and assault - sports-related injuries are a major cause for concern because they impact younger people whose brains are still in the development stages. This can affect an individual's cognitive and emotional development.

Recent Medical Breakthrough May Help Brain-Injured Patients While Congress debates the benefits of traumatic brain injury prevention, recent scientific development may help with traumatic brain injury treatment. A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that diets rich in amino acids helped restore cognitive abilities in brain-injured mice.

The TBI-afflicted mice were given drinking water with specific amino acids prior to clinical memory and learning trials. Those that received the amino acid-rich water responded better than brain-injured mice that did not receive the amino acid mix. The specific amino acids used are the forerunners of important neurotransmitters glutamate and gamma-aminobutyric acid, or GABA, which facilitate vital brain activity.

If proven to be successful in human patients, amino acid traumatic brain injury treatment could financially benefit the more than 5 million Americans who are permanently disabled from the affects of a traumatic brain injury. TBI aftereffects include problems in thinking, sensation, language and emotions, not to mention early retirement from sports. Clinical trials are expected to start in the next year.

The CDC estimated that in 2000, medical expenses for traumatic brain injuries accrued more than $60 billion. Many of these TBI patients consider contacting a brain injury lawyer and developing an often lengthy potential brain injury lawsuit to receive monetary compensation for the costly treatment.

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