The aim of Brain Injury Week is to raise awareness of how extraordinary but also how fragile our brains are. They can be severely damaged from the smallest knock.

Actress Natasha Richardson died in 2009 after receiving a knock to the head while on a ski lesson. She was not wearing a helmet.

She showed no signs of being hurt at the time but later felt unwell. A crucial aim to Brain Injury Week is drawing awareness to the importance of getting help should you feel ill after an accident in any way.

Some people think they have mild concussion when it is much more serious. Traumatic Brain Injury or TBI injury can result in several different types of damage.

Headway – the brain injury association – a charity that works to improve life after a brain injury, describes the Effects of Traumatic Brain Injury on Brain Function:

  • Damage to the nerve fibres deep in the central part of the brain, which normally keeps a person awake and alert, results in the most obvious of symptoms – coma.

  • This link between damage to particular parts of the brain and a corresponding lack of brain function means, for example, that damage to the side of the brain (parietal    lobes) results in weakness in the limbs on the opposite side of the body. Injury to the left side of the brain or the brain stem itself tends to cause speech and language impairment.

  • Coma, loss of power in the arms and legs, and speech impairment are the most visible signs of brain injury. However, traumatic brain injury causes numerous ‘hidden disabilities’ in that it results in changes to personality, thinking and memory. For example, damage to the brain behind the forehead (frontal lobes) results in     behavioural problems, such as loss of insight and self-restraint.

So this Action for Brain Injury Week the Headway organisation wants to campaign for more support for those who are vulnerable and highlight the effect cuts are having on their objectives.

The highlight of the week will be Hats for Headway Day. For more information go to the Headway website for details of the 2014 event. Supporters will be wearing their finest or strangest hats on the day to show their support for Action for Brain Injury Week – so dust off your best hat box and wear your most wonderful hat, or why not make your own and get people to sponsor you for donning the oddest creation for the day.

To find out more about the local events that will be taking place and ‘Hats for Headway Day’ go to: www.headway.org.uk

 

References and resources

For more information about Headway go to: www.headway.org.uk

For information on Action for Brain Injury Week go to:http://www.national-awareness-days.com/

Written by Rachel Harrison

Speech and Language Therapist

On behalf of Integrated Treatment Services. www.integratedtreatmentservices.co.uk

May 2014
Image rights – Pixabay


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