Every parent whose child has suffered a traumatic brain injury has a question that, up until now, has had few definitive answers. The question parents want to know is what their child will be like ten years down the road—in other words, what are the long-term effects of a traumatic brain injury in a child? A study presented at the Association of Academic Psychiatrist in Las Vegas in February 2017, dealt with the long-term effects of traumatic brain injuries—from seven to ten years after the injury. Those patients who had mild to moderate traumatic brain injuries were found to be twice as likely to have attention problems, while those with more serious traumatic brain injuries were about five times as likely to develop attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD). Additional findings from this study included:
Further Reading: Smartphones – Increasing Accidents and Raising Rates
There are more than 630,000 children and teens who are treated in emergency rooms every year after receiving traumatic brain injuries. Factors which impact how each individual child will do in the future include socio-economic status, the child’s home environment, the manner in which the child is parented, and the overall functioning of the family.
To better understand how much—or whether—hereditary plays a role in how well children and teens recover from traumatic brain injuries, researchers at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital are researching genes which are important to TBI recovery. More than 330 children will participate in the study, with DNA samples collected from each study participant. The project is expected to provide information which will allow more specialized, individualized treatment plans.
This particular study will use neuroimaging and other technologies to learn more about traumatic brain injuries, including how brain networks respond to aerobic training. Researchers at Cincinnati Children’s have been studying interventions to improve behavioral and cognitive outcomes following brain injury in a child or teen for the past two decades. In one computerized trial of attention and memory, children who had positive parent-child interactions showed greater improvements in attention, and executive function behaviors.
Another study, published in the journal Radiology, studied outcomes of veterans who sustained mild traumatic brain injuries during combat. MRIs and DTI metrics were used to study military veterans with a diagnosis of traumatic brain injury. The results of the study found a link between DTI measurements taken post-deployment, and neurobehavioral symptoms. The timing of the injury also appeared to have an impact on functional outcomes.
Veterans who were unable to return to their job because of their traumatic brain injury displayed what is known as diffusivity in specific regions of the brain—an area known as the left internal capsule which contains important fibers providing motor stimulation to the right side of the body. The diffusivity in the left internal capsules was believed to be a sign of lower structural integrity. Overall researchers found a significant correlation between fine motor function impairments and the veteran’s inability to return to work.
It will likely require many more studies on traumatic brain injuries to help parents and family members really know how much their loved one’s injury will impact his or her life a decade down the road.
If you or someone you love has sustained a brain injury in an accident, it is important to understand your legal rights, as well as the long-term complications of your injury.
At Hull & Zimmerman, P.C., our committed traumatic brain injury lawyers are dedicated to the belief that everyone deserves justice. Contact us at (303) 423-1770 or (866) 385-3505.
Our personal injury lawyers have extensive experience representing injured accident victims in Broomfield, Arvada, Superior, Lafayette, Louisville, Erie, Brighton, Commerce City, Northglenn, Westminster, Thornton, Longmont, and throughout Colorado.
At Hull & Zimmerman, P.C., we are honored to help accident victims in their time of need, and take our responsibility as personal injury lawyers incredibly seriously. We know how important it is for victims to secure the full and fair compensation they need following a serious accident, and that is why we take a hands-on, personalized approach to every case we handle.
awarded to a woman who was a victim of a car crash. The woman was driving the highway when the other driver approaching from the opposite direction lost control of his vehicle, crossed the center line and hit her head on. She suffered multiple broken bones, including her hip, pelvis, leg, and right arm. She missed several years of work as a result of her injuries. Read More
awarded to a woman who was the victim of a t-bone car crash. The client suffered multiple injuries. The most significant of which was a head injury. While she was ultimately able to return to work on a part-time basis, Plaintiff was never able to return to work on a full-time basis. Read More
settlement awarded to a lady who suffered a head injury. She slipped and fell in a slanted parking lot at her place of employment. Evidence demonstrated that the owner of the building had constructed a fence shading the parking lot such that ice was allowed to continuously accumulate during the winter months. Multiple people had fallen on the ice prior to the client’s fall. As a result of her injuries, Plaintiff was forced to take early retirement. Read More
awarded to a man whose vehicle was hit from behind by a semi. The injured party suffered back pain and rotator cuff tears in each shoulder and was forced to retire from his job doing road repair four years earlier. Read More
settlement (policy limits) awarded to a young man who lost his eye when another child shot an arrow into the air. Read More
settlement obtained for a man who was injured in a rear end automobile accident. He suffered a herniated disc in his low back which was not well resolved by surgery forcing him to leave his employment as an apartment maintenance manager. Read More
awarded to a gentleman in association with a workman’s compensation case. He initially sustained a head injury at work when attacked by a patient. Several years later, his condition worsened resulting in his inability to return to work in his usual job. Read More
settlement achieved in a legal malpractice case. The client initially suffered a herniated disc in her neck in association with an automobile accident. The attorney failed to file the lawsuit in a timely manner and the Plaintiff was initially denied her ability to achieve any monies from the original lawsuit. Read More
settlement awarded to a man who was a victim of an automobile accident. Plaintiff was a passenger who was rear-ended by another driver. Following the accident, he suffered a long term back injury. Read More
settlement awarded to a lady who aggravated a pre-existing back condition when she slipped and fell at the entrance to a casino. Read More
awarded to a woman who suffered a rotator cuff tear from an automobile accident. Read More