Your injury
We are wholly focused on working with individuals and their families after a brain injury. We don’t work in other areas of injury or clinical negligence and we believe our focus on brain injuries provides the best outcomes for our clients.
Our work is with people who have traumatic brain injuries: this means an injury to the brain which has occurred since birth. We focus on brain injuries which are caused by trauma, known as traumatic brain injuries (distinct from a non-traumatic brain injury, such as one caused by a stroke).
There are many different possible causes of a traumatic brain injury, including a road traffic or cycling accident, sports injury or assault. Bear in mind, a traumatic brain injury is not always an extreme event; a brain injury can occur when a person trips over and knocks their head as they fall. We work with people who have traumatic brain injuries of any cause. We can help people who may not have a diagnosis of a brain injury: people who may be told they have concussion, post-concussion syndrome or a head injury.
For more information upon moderate and severe brain injuries please see:
See the section below for further information about mild brain injury. For more information about concussion, head injury and post-concussion syndrome please see:
So called ‘mild’ brain injuries (mild TBI)
We represent clients nationally that have suffered from life changing brain injuries.
We also have a speciality in brain injuries which are often clinically classified as a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI).
This classification can be seem a somewhat misleading term as the consequences of mTBI can also result in enduring and life-changing for those that do not recover and continue to suffer prolonged and persisting symptoms and effects.
“… ‘mild’ is indeed a misnomer for this disease, because many patients experience significant and persistent symptoms. For these patients, mTBI is anything but mild”
Nine out of ten traumatic brain injuries are classified as mTBI, a diagnosis which is based on a number of measures including loss of consciousness, amnesia (memory loss), verbal and motor responses at the time of injury and imaging information (CT and MRI scans). Brain injury symptoms such as blurred vision, confusion, feeling dazed, dizziness, headache, or nausea are usually considered.
However, it is widely recognised this method of classifying brain injuries often fail to fully identify what has happened or predict prognosis. Often, brain injuries at the ‘mild’ end of the spectrum are not clearly visible in standard imaging. Individuals with brain injuries are typically seen at hospital, classified in the mild category and assured they have nothing to worry about.
Making sense of what has happened
For up to 50 per cent of individuals sent home after a mTBI, there is not a full or spontaneous recovery. It may not be immediately evident that the problems an individual is experiencing are due to the earlier brain injury. There are many different symptoms of brain injuries which we discuss in more detail here. A common comment we encounter from the families we work with is:
“They have completely changed since the accident.”
This is why we operate with a unique model: the first priority is to establish a full and accurate diagnosis. Doing so usually means drawing on a variety of specialist expertise which may include advanced imaging and assessments by clinical psychologists, neurologists, physiotherapists and occupational therapists. We manage this process, working with the leading clinical specialists within the field.
References
McMahon et al, 2014, Symptomatology and Functional Outcome in Mild Traumatic Brain Injury: Results from the Prospective TRACK-TBI Study, Journal of Neurotrauma
Learn More
Brain Injuries
A brain injury is defined as an alteration in brain function caused by an external force such as a blow, collision or jolt.
Concussion
Concussion may be caused by a direct blow or jolt. For example, a collision during sport or a road traffic accident.
Head Injuries
A head injury is any sort of injury to your brain, skull, or scalp. It can range in severity from a bump or bruise to a major skull fracture requiring surgery.
Post-concussion syndrome
Post-concussion syndrome is an umbrella term for a cluster of difficulties that are present three months or more after an injury.