Are you at risk for TBI?

Are you at risk for TBI?  Are you 18-24?  Are you a male?  Do you serve in the miliary?  If you said yes to all of those questions, then you are a high risk candidate to suffer from Traumatic Brain Injury.  Males are 1.5 times more likely to suffer from TBI; as well as, the age demographic of people 18-24.  Of those 2 demographics, that is predominatly the age and gender make up of the U.S. military.  People who serve in the military the leading causes of TBI are:
     - Bullets
     - Fragments
     - Blasts
     - Falls
     - Motor vehicle accidents
     - Falls

And for those military personnel serving in war-zones overseas, blasts are the leading cause  for TBI and "signature" injury of the military.  These blasts can come from Improvised Explosive Devices (IED's), Rocket-propelled grenades (RPG's), or landmines.  These blasts affect the brain due to the overpressue wave or the complex pressure wave that is generated.  A blast overpressure wave travels at a very high rate of speed and its effects can be especially concentrated and devistating when soldiers are travelling in a military vehicle.  Air-filled organs such as lungs, ears; as well as, organs that surrounded by fluid-filled cavities such as the brain and spinal cord are especially susceptible.  Another blast injury is the secondary blast effects, such as flying debris.  These flying fragments such as pieces of the bomb itself, asphalt, concrete, or whatever happened to be lying near by or what struck and detonated the bomb.  Lastly, being thrown due to the blast itself can also cause brain injuries.  And it isn't just to be thrown, you could be thrown against a wall or the side of a vehicle, basically anything solid.  This rapid acceleration/deceleration force and blunt force trauma that comes from hitting something all mimic or mirror traffic accidents that cause TBI. 

This leads me to an earlier post, how do we mitigate the effects of TBI?  Blast shields are definitely a way to minimize the effects of the blast wave affecting the brain.  But that doesn't do everything, especially when it comes to "after" you've been exposed.  What can you do for yourself "before" you've been exposed?  This is where some more research has turned up an article entitled "Pre-Injury Exercise May Mitigate the Effects of Traumatic Brain Injury in Mice."  Now, I know we aren't mice, but this study sounds very promising and should give all those serving more incentive to do more physical training!  The study, performed by Jerome Badaut, Ph.D, from Loma Linda University, was perfomed using 9 mice.  Of the 9 mice, 4 were allowed to exercise on wheels, while 5 mice were sedentary.  The running mice were allowed to run for 2 weeks before they underwent a procedure that mirrors or mimics a TBI.  The mice's brains were examined using Magnetic Resonance Imagine (MRI).  The MRI images revealed that the lesions in the exericsing mice were 34 percent smaller in volume than those mice who did not run.  This is some exciting news and further stresses the importance of being phsycially fit.  I hope that more studying is being done. 

http://www.dvbic.org/TBI---The-Military.aspx
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/11/101116100457.htm