8 Myths about Traumatic Brain Injury (Infograph)

Traumatic brain injuries are often misunderstood and many people can become confused and puzzled with what a brain injury is and the effect it can have on someone’s life. The infograph covered some of the common myths surrounding traumatic brain injury and the facts surrounding these areas. The first one is the mild traumatic brain injury which isn’t serious because a traumatic brain injury has been classified as mild, it does not mean that the effects and consequences of the injury are not significant. Some with a mild brain injury can experience many symptoms, cognitive problems and behavioral changes. The second one is that you cannot have a traumatic brain injury without loss of consciousness.  It has now been recognized that a brain injury can occur after a very brief loss of consciousness of 30 minutes or less or being dazed without loss of consciousness. The next myth is that you must strike your head to suffer a traumatic brain injury. It simply means that you can sustain a brain injury if your head undergoes rapid acceleration or deceleration. The fourth myth is if a traumatic brain injury does not show up on a scan then it does not exist. Some neuroimaging will not pick up on subtle changes in the brain. The fifth is that you can see the effects of a traumatic brain injury straight away but the true effects of a brain injury may not be apparent immediately after the injury. The next one is that children with traumatic brain injury make a better recovery because a child’s brain is still developing.  The seventh is that mild traumatic brain injury is not permanent. The effects of a mild injury can be far reaching and last for a long period of time. The last one is that mild traumatic brain injuries are not debilitating. People differ in severity of the symptoms they experience.