How can brain trauma change a person’s life?

Suffering from a car crash can easily lead to a head injury that may result in brain trauma. Traumatic brain injuries – TBIs – can have a serious and lasting impact on the health of the victim.

But in what ways can a TBI or other brain trauma change a person’s life? What aspects are the most likely to change?

Physical impacts

Physiopedia looks into brain injuries and the various impacts they have. TBIs can affect victims in mental, behavioral, physical and emotional ways.

Physically, it is possible for the motor cortexes to end up affected. This can lead to a victim no longer being able to move smoothly or have fine motor control as before. Damage to the spinal cord can even result in paralysis, and nerve damage can make moving certain parts of the body extremely painful.

Victims can also suffer from issues like nausea, migraines, tinnitus and more. These problems will likely lessen through the healing process.

Behavioral and emotional impacts

Behaviorally and emotionally, victims may have a lower stress and agitation tolerance and trouble coping with stressors. This can lead to victims lashing out at others, seeming easier to irritate or anger, and having trouble keeping level-headed in stressful situations.

Victims are also prone at times to more rash decision-making, as the frontal lobe controls impulses and emotional regulation. This can lead to reckless actions or saying things without thinking.

Mental impacts

Mentally, memory often gets impacted due to head injuries. Victims may lose short term memory capacity and struggle with memory formation in the future, which can make getting through daily life difficult.