What Do We Learn From Studying Traumatic Brain Injury?

A hard bump to the head can cause traumatic brain injury (TBI). Doctors treat more than 2 million Americans with TBI every year. Common causes of TBI are car crashes or hitting your head. Some TBIs are severe and some are milder. All TBIs can have serious effects, which include bleeding, brain swelling, or tearing of the brain’s connections. It is important for researchers to study TBI, so that they can find ways to help those with a brain injury to get better. With this common goal in mind, scientists around the world are researching TBI. People with TBI often come to hospitals or clinics and some become part of research studies. TBI researchers follow athletes and military service members, too, because their activities increase the risk of TBI. In this paper, we review different types of TBI studies. We also discuss the groups helping scientists. We will also tell you how you could become a future TBI researcher!


Figure Figure
A bump to the head while playing sports can cause a concussion.

TBI-WHAT IS THE BIG DEAL?
A traumatic brain injury (TBI) is caused by a hit to the head. This

TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY (TBI)
A hit or jolt to the head that makes it di cult for the brain to work properly. trauma makes it di cult for the brain to operate normally. Every hour, over , people worldwide experience a TBI [ ]. It would take more than school buses to carry them all! Some people are at higher risk for TBI. For example, TBI is more likely for babies and grandparents than parents. There are many causes of TBI. TBI can result from falling and hitting your head, or by something hitting your head with force. Jolting your head suddenly can cause a TBI as well. Car and other vehicle crashes are a common way people get TBIs, and you could also get a TBI from a crash on your bike or skateboard. Another common cause is playing sports, like soccer or football (Figure ). Your head could collide with another player or with the ground while you are playing. Bomb blasts on the battlefield are a main cause of TBI for people in the armed forces.

WHAT HAPPENS TO THE BRAIN IN A TBI?
TBI can damage the brain in several ways, which is why one TBI can be very di erent from another. The injury could tear the skin or crack the skull at the site of impact. The damage to the brain might stay in one place or be spread across the brain. If blood or liquid builds up inside the skull, this can be very dangerous. Figure shows a drawing of a head and brain and Figure shows a brain scan of blood inside the skull after TBI. In Figures , , the red shows blood sitting inside the skull. This can be life threatening. A neurosurgeon, a doctor who NEUROSURGEON A doctor who is trained to perform surgery on the brain or spine. performs surgery on the brain or spine, can stop the bleeding and fix the pressure building up in the brain.
Concussion means the same thing as mild TBI. The brain does not CONCUSSION A mild traumatic brain injury, in which recovery happens within the first few weeks to months. usually bleed after a concussion. The brain is made up of more than billion neurons, which are very long nerve cells that send messages NEURONS Brain cells that carry specialized messages.
around the body using tiny chemicals [ ]. A concussion can tear neurons or make it harder for neurons to work properly. The worse the injury, the longer it takes for the brain to return to normal. A TBI can damage the neurons that are responsible for senses like taste and smell. For example, a person might have a poor sense of smell after TBI.

HOW ARE PEOPLE AFFECTED BY TBI?
People can become unconscious, or "knocked out," for some time after a TBI. They might seem confused or have problems talking when they wake up. They will often not remember what happened to them. Recovery from a mild TBI can take a couple of days to a few weeks, and for some people with more serious TBI, it takes longer. Symptoms of TBI include di culty thinking, remembering, or paying attention. Changes in the body, like headaches, feeling dizzy, or throwing up, are also common symptoms of TBI. Some people experience changes to their moods. They might feel more nervous or upset. To recover from a TBI, the injured person might need to stay home from work or school and take a break from sports, to let the brain rest. A doctor will be able to tell the TBI patient when it is safe to go back to these activities.
More severe TBIs have the potential for serious problems. These problems are often related to swelling and bleeding inside the skull. Emergency treatment for symptoms might be needed, such as help with breathing using a machine. Recovery from a moderate or severe TBI can take months to years. The symptoms of severe TBI can be very di erent from one person to the next, depending on the severity of the injury and the areas of the brain that are injured. In some cases, one side of the body may be in a paralyzed-like state, and the person may have a hard time moving his a ected arm or leg. Therapists can help to re-train a patient's brain to control his or her limbs. Another common problem following TBI is di culty with talking. Speech therapy helps patients with TBI communicate better.

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO STUDY TBI?
Clinical research is the study of people and how we function. This playing sports and their brain health is tested again several times, until they seem better. Then, CARE studies these tests to learn about the way the brain recovers from TBI. CARE answers important questions about how concussion a ects the brain [ ].

CLINICAL RESEARCH
TRACK-TBI and CARE collect a variety of information about people and their TBIs, including details about the injuries and treatments. Researchers collect these data using brain scans, blood samples, brain kids.frontiersin.org January | Volume | Article | function tests, and surveys. Helmet sensors can be used to measure how hard of a hit the athlete took. Did you know a concussion a ects the movements of your eyes? Some sensors can measure eye movements, so researchers can track this information, too. Researchers are also exploring whether a person's genes play a role in recovery from TBI.

HOW MIGHT A PERSON BECOME A TBI SCIENTIST?
Do you want to become a future TBI researcher? Education is the most important step! To start, high school and college degrees are important. Most TBI researchers need lots of schooling to help build specialized skills. A medical degree or graduate degree is the most common. Other researchers choose a certificate program, such as one in clinical research. In these programs, students will often study research, the brain, or human behavior. Teachers and mentors train future scientists by working together with their students to prepare them for independent research. Formal programs are available to students interested in research [ ]. Look for things like summer internships, which allow high school or college students to study science and practice research. You can learn about TBI on your own, too! Ask a librarian to help you search for scientific books or papers on TBI. Then read about the current TBI research that is being done. This will help you to better understand what studies you could explore next! Find something you are interested in. Then, reach out to the people doing that work. Tell them how interested you are and ask them if you can come visit or be involved with their research team. You never know where it might lead!