Brain Bits: Understanding Brain Injuries

Brain Injury Awareness Month

Have you ever hit your head or had your “bell rung” as they used to say? Do you know someone who has suffered a stroke or been in a serious car accident? 1 in 3 Canadians are directly impacted by brain injury in some way.

June is Brain Injury Awareness Month. The purpose of Brain Injury Awareness Month is to bring awareness to brain injury, its effects, and prevention measures.

June is Brain Injury Awareness Month

Brain injury can happen to anyone, at any time. Brain injuries are often considered “invisible” disabilities and a silent epidemic because brain injury is actually a leading cause of death and disability for persons under 44, not only in Canada, but worldwide.

Just think about this: the annual incidence of acquired brain injury is 44 times more common than spinal cord injury, 30 times more common than breast cancer, and 400 times more common than HIV/AIDS. Isn’t that just astounding?

Despite the staggering incidence, brain injury receives less funding nationally than any of these issues receive provincially.

The impacts of brain injury stretch beyond the individual themselves, creating social, economic, and emotional consequences for family members, caregivers, support workers and the individual’s community at large. Thus, making brain injury a serious public health issue.

Sometimes it is unclear what qualifies as a brain injury, but a brain injury can be anything from a mild concussion, to a stroke, to a brain tumour. An Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) is defined as an insult to the brain that is non-congenital and non-degenerative, and results in impaired cognitive, physical, emotional and/or behavioral functioning.

Contrary to the popular belief, you do not have to lose consciousness in order to have sustained a brain injury or concussion.

Before you re-enter sport or activity, if you are concerned you may have a concussion, it is important to get a medical professional opinion on how to safely return to practice and reduce long term consequences of concussion. See resources below.

ABIs can be further categorized as being a Traumatic or non-Traumatic Brain Injury. Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBIs) occur as a result of an external force, some prime examples being motor vehicle accidents, falls, contact sport injuries, or assaults. All other brain injuries fall under the non-Traumatic Brain Injury (nTBI) category. nTBIs can be the result of various things such as strokes, illnesses or even oxygen deprivation/cardiac arrest due to drug overdose or a near-drowning experience.

More recently, there have even been questions around potential brain injury in COVID-19 patients recovering from being on ventilators, a phenomenon known as “post-intensive care syndrome”, where neurological impacts are seen.

Some key things to note that make brain injury a very challenging disability to navigate is its heterogeneous nature, meaning that basically once you have seen one brain injury, you’ve really only seen one brain injury. The other challenge is the diversity in individuals impacted by brain injuries. Brain injury does not discriminate, and affects people across all ages, no matter their ethnic background or socioeconomic status. Lastly, unlike with stroke and other diseases, there is no clearly defined roadmap or pathway to recovery for brain injury survivors to follow and assist them in navigating the health care system.

Depending on the type and severity of the brain injury sustained there are different pathways for care. A stroke victim will follow a different route than a person who was involved in a motor vehicle collision, and both of these care pathways will look different from a person who fell and hit their head at home. Mechanism of injury is important when determining your care pathway.

Luckily, there are plenty of resources to assist in navigating the challenging healthcare system:

Your Regional ABI System Navigator – ABI Navigator for the NE region is Kamilah Francis

Contact: kcfrancis@marchofdimes.ca or 1-888-260-5269 ext. 237

Your local brain injury association – the Brain Injury Association of SSM provides support groups and local events throughout the year for persons with lived experience and their caregivers – soobraininjury.com

The Ontario Brain Injury Association has a helpline, online support groups, and multiple resources – obia.ca

The Ontario Neurotrauma Foundation recently developed rehabilitation guidelines for adult concussion, adult moderate-severe brain injury, and pediatric brain injury, with patient versions available for each – braininjuryguidelines.org