There are many events which can result in brain injury, such as a blow to the head, the head striking an object, a penetration of the skull such as in a gunshot, or particularly relevant to auto accident cases, by rapid acceleration and deceleration of the brain.
In each of the above events, the brain can be injured both by impact and rotational or shear forces. While it is the common conception that impact damage comes from blows to the head and shear damage from whiplash forces, both types of damage can occur from either mechanism.
Impact damage tends to be focal, meaning concentrated in specific parts of the brain, whereas shear injuries tend to be diffuse, meaning occurring throughout widespread portions of the brain. Thus, the term “Diffuse Axonal Injury” meaning widespread injury to the axons, the long thin portion of the neuron.
Mechanisms of Brain Injury:
- A Blow to the Head;
- The Head Hitting an Object;
- A Rapid Acceleration/Deceleration Movement, such as Whiplash.
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was reading this trying to figure out long term effects. I suffered a diffuse axonal brain injury october 2011. amazingly I am fully able and capable of everything now. I had a large quantity of problems directly after my awakening after 2 months icu and 1 month hospitalization. I walked like i was ninety, i’m 24. Showed far too many emotions, all good though. Had poor memory to start but it quickly returned. I repeated myself alot but that also stopped as my cognitive functioning came back. It is a very strange injury, put alot of restrictions on me but I don’t feel any of them are absolutely necessary. It also affected my vision slightly. The doctors told my parents to get a nursing home in line because less than ten percent of people in my predicament ever make a full recovery. I’m thankful for every way i’ve been blessed through this but I just want to prepare myself for any possible problems in the future