Op-Ed: What’s Really Causing Traumatic Brain Injury (Hint: It Isn’t Sports)

Maybe you didnt realize it, but this monthMarchhas been National Brain Injury Awareness Month. During these 31 days, an estimated 140,000 people in the U.S. will have sustained some degree of traumatic brain injury (TBI), ranging from mild concussions to coma or death.

Taken together, TBI is among the leading cause of disability and death in people who are otherwise typically the youngest and healthiest Americans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Which makes TBIs nickname, The Silent Epidemic, an apt one. But make no mistake, the costs of TBI are huge: Added together, medical bills, chronic or lifelong disability, and indirect costs to society attributable to TBI are estimated at over $75 billion per year.

Concussions: This Is Your Brain on Sports

The good newsif you want to call it thatis that over the past decade, TBI has received increasing attention. Why? Unfortunately, its because of injuries sustained by athletes in various contact sports, including football, boxing, and hockey, as well as combat-related injuries to our brave military personnel.

These are important causes of TBI, but they mask a much bigger cause: Car accidents and falls continue to make up over half of these injuries, across all ages and in all areas of the U.S.

So what have we learned about TBI, and more important, what can be done to improve this otherwise grim scenario that continues to hurt our most promising members of society? I propose a three-pronged approach:

'Every Head Counts': Legislating Kids, Sports and Concussions

AWARENESS: It doesnt just take a single, severe event to really damage your brain. Its now clear that repetitive mild TBI contributes to the development of a variety of neurological and psychiatric symptoms, ranging from extremely subtle ones to those that are quite severe. (These are collectively referred to as chronic traumatic encephalopathy [CTE].)

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Op-Ed: What’s Really Causing Traumatic Brain Injury (Hint: It Isn’t Sports)