These are the most common causes of traumatic brain injury
On behalf of Steven Crell of Steve Crell Law posted in Personal Injury on Monday, March 16, 2015.
In recent years, medical research has shown that bumps and minor injuries to the head can have much longer-lasting effects on a person’s health than previously believed. Successive concussions can result in traumatic brain injury, and according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), TBI contributes to roughly 30 percent of all injury deaths in the U.S., and each day 138 people die because of injuries that include TBI.
Statistics from the CDC also show that most TBIs are mild, though a single concussion can place a person at risk of more serious brain damage if another injury occurs before the first one heals. In fact, in 2010 TBI was associated with 2.5 million hospitalizations, emergency room visits and deaths.
If we know what most often causes brain injury, then we can start focusing prevention efforts in those areas. The CDC reports that, from 2006 through 2010, the following were the most common known causes of TBI:
- Falls — 40.5 percent. Children and seniors were disproportionately affected by fall-related TBIs.
- Unintentional blunt trauma (being struck by or against an object): 15.5 percent
- Motor vehicle accidents: 14.3 percent
- Assaults: 10.7 percent.
It should be noted that the causes of 19 percent of TBIs during that time are unknown.
As we learn more about how to prevent and recognize concussions and traumatic brain injury, it is crucial that TBI patients have access to the medical and rehabilitative care they need. At Steve Crell Law, we work in and outside the courtroom to get results for TBI patients who have been injured because of someone else’s negligence. To learn more, please see our head and brain injury overview.
