In The Many Faces of TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY, brain injury expert witness Dr. John D. Lloyd, PhD, MErgS, CPE, CBIS, writes:
Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is often considered the signature injury of the ongoing military conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. However, there are many more non-combat victims of the devastating effects of TBI, which can affect anyone, anytime, anywhere.
The very young and very old are both highly vulnerable to significant head trauma from otherwise innocuous household short falls. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), accidental falls are the number one cause of injury and number two cause of fatality in infants and young children. While teens and adolescents may believe they are superhuman at times, their young brains, which continue to develop into their mid-twenties, require extra protection due to the risky behaviors, which coincide with a peak in TBI fatalities. While the fully-formed adult skull may serve well as a helmet to protect the brain from milder impacts, there are many potentially injurious events that affect this group including automobile and motorcycle accidents, blunt force trauma, and impacts due to amateur and professional sports, including football, hockey, soccer, horse-riding, etc. Finally, in our golden years, where the brain atrophies, thereby increasing the risk of deformation, in combination with anti-coagulant (blood-thinning) therapies for various medical conditions can place elders at heightened risk of injury due to minor falls.