Brain impairment is an acquired physical injury to the brain, whether it results from a traumatic injury or illness. This means the damage was not present at birth, but occurred later in life as a consequence of an accident, stroke, tumor, or other disease-related complications, etc. The brain can be damaged due to a large impact, or as the outcome of repeated small impacts; either way, the damage will cause significant changes to how your brain functions.
Acquired brain injuries (ABI), also known as traumatic brain injuries (TBI) are caused by an outside force, are not hereditary, and can result in long-term disabilities and challenges depending on the position and level of severity of an injury.
More specifically, an ABI is any condition that causes permanent damage to the brain’s cells, such as a stroke or aneurysm. A TBI, while being the same as ABI, is caused by any sudden event – a fall, a blow to the head, or even an explosion – that causes damage to the brain. The impact may cause bleeding inside your skull, bruising of your brain, tissue, or both.
An adult may develop an ABI in one of two ways. They may have traumatic brain impairment resulting from an incident or operation, and non-traumatic brain impairment resulting from seizures, brain cancers, or oxygen deprivation in the brain (hypoxia).
An ABI can alter a person’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors as well as their capacity to carry out daily activities that they would have considered simple before their injury. Despite the possibility of recovering to normal, there will be some irreversible changes. Since the brain governs every action a person takes, a brain injury may have far-reaching implications that require treatment in all areas of rehabilitation encompassing physiological, psychological, intellectual, interpersonal, behavioral, and social elements.
The psychological/cognitive symptoms of an ABI patient are as follows:
On the other hand, the physical symptoms of an adult with ABI may include throbbing head, limb weakness, motion restriction, spastic paralysis, exhaustion or fatigue, lack of self-control, convulsive attacks or strokes, sleep disruption, etc.
An acquired brain injury in children may develop any moment after birth but contradicts with injuries that happen before or shortly after delivery, like perinatal hypoxia. Newborns and toddlers sustain most of their head wounds from falls at home. Road traffic collisions or injuries sustained while playing on a playground – in the case of children, while brain damage during sports activities on hockey/football grounds, bike riding, and roller skating – in the case of teenagers, may additionally be some of the typical causes.
In the age bracket of early childhood, brain damage can also be caused by non-traumatic incidents like meningitis or seizures. A diagnosis of cerebral palsy in children is frequently the result of brain injuries caused due to complications at birth.
The effects and outcomes of a brain injury in children are different from those in adults because they are constantly growing and their brains are hardly protected by a softer skull, increasing the risk of causing brain bulging.
Following are the signs of children who suffer from ABI:
Parents of babies who have suffered brain injuries may experience severe psychological effects since they may be unsure of the long-term effects on their kids and may have to live in doubt. A severe head injury may have long-term repercussions, necessitating specialized therapy to aid the kid in making the utmost recovery possible.
