Following a brain injury, it is important for brain injury survivors and their families to identify different forms of help that they may need. Some of these forms of help may be more obvious than others. For instance, if a survivor has lost income due their injury, the survivor likely needs help paying for bills. Similarly, if a survivor has trouble with balance, the survivor likely needs a shower chair to bathe. However, some forms of help are less intuitive. One of the important forms of help that is often ignored is the need for emotional support. The brain injury experience can ..read more

One of the more confusing aspects of the brain injury world is that there are many terms to learn. It is often hard to differentiate one term from another. In this post, I would like to clarify the difference between two commonly used terms, “traumatic brain injury” and “acquired brain injury”. These terms, also known by their acronyms “tbi” and “abi”, have different connotations. Traumatic brain injury is generally defined as any injury in which an outside force against the brain causes an injury. This can be when an object strikes the brain, such a bullet shot into a person’s brain ..read more

One of the more stressful aspects of the injury experience is deciding how to answer questions about the injury experience. This can be particularly stressful as many survivors find themselves receiving a barrage of questions every time they return to familiar situations. Friends at work have questions, customers have questions, old high school classmates have questions, etc. For many survivors, it seems that they have been suddenly placed in an unfamiliar spotlight. Let’s go over some general ideas and some specific suggestions when talking about your injury. First, let’s review some g ..read more

I would like to tell you the saddest story of my professional career. I was working at a major city hospital and one of my jobs was consultation neuropsychological testing. When a patient was admitted to the general medical unit of the hospital but the attending physician suspected the patient also had cognitive deficits, such as memory deficits, I was asked to conduct a neuropsychological evaluation. It in this role that I experienced the saddest case of my career. One day, I was contacted by a doctor to conduct neuropsychological testing on a patient. The doctor told me the patient’s r ..read more

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We each have a way that we are used to visualizing ourselves. It is part of our identity. We may comb our hair in a certain way, wear certain brands of clothes or wear certain shades of lipstick. For each of us, when we see ourselves in the mirror in our typical manner, we feel normal. Any change to our usual look or style may cause us discomfort or stress. After a brain injury, survivors may change their normal looks or styles. Sometimes, this is done for safety or practicality. For instance, certain pairs of sneakers may not supply adequate ankle support for safe ambulation or cert ..read more

Slips and falls due to sliding on slippery sidewalks and other surfaces are a concern, whether an individual does or does not have a brain injury. However, the risks are often more frequent and more serious after an injury. Many brain injury survivors are able to walk after their injury but find that their balance is not as good as it was prior to their injury. Since these survivors can lose their balance more easily, this puts them at a greater risk for a slip and fall on wet, slippery surfaces. Similarly, many survivors do not have the same quick reaction times as they did prior to the ..read more

On Game of Thrones, Emilia Clarke’s character Daenerys Targaryen is tough as nails and always up for a battle. But perhaps Clarke’s toughest personal battle was when she had brain aneurysms, which included multiple surgeries to save her life. Click the link below to read her personal account of her brain aneurysm experience, including surgery and aphasia: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/personal-history/emilia-clarke-a-battle-for-my-life-brain-aneurysm-surgery-game-of-thrones Learn about brain injury treatment services at the Transitional Learning Center! Visit us at: http://tlcreha ..read more

One of the basic truths of successful rehabilitation is that it involves a partnership between the patient and therapists/doctors.  It is important to understand what this partnership entails, namely that without both parties investments in the process, the patient will only have limited improvements.  This also means that each side has a responsibility to the other side to ensure success.  The job of rehabilitation is a shared job between the patient and rehabilitation professionals. There are a number of implications to the basic truth of the rehabilitation partnership.  A therapist/doctor c ..read more