Mild, moderate, and severe traumatic brain injuries are classified by doctors. Most TBIs are mild, with symptoms lasting weeks or months. 15% of mild TBI cases have year-long symptoms. Moderate brain injuries cause unconsciousness for 20 minutes to 6 hours, and severe brain injuries last longer. Recovery from moderate to severe brain injuries can take months or years. In severe brain trauma cases, symptoms may last a lifetime. The CDC estimates that traumatic brain injuries disable 3,2 million Americans and kill 52,000 each year. 

Medical science has improved treatment options, but we still know little about brain injury healing. Brain injuries heal slowly. They don’t heal like broken bones. Traumatic brain injury (TBI) may heal, but brain function may be permanently affected. Once the patient is stabilized and no longer needs acute care, rehabilitation can focus on speech, muscle coordination, sexual function, and sense changes.

Most TBIs aren’t penetrating, but it varies. What happens depends on the injury. Which brain part is injured determines how much function is lost or changed. The brain works in many-structured networks. Certain tasks may require many cognitive skills, from seeing and reading to decision-making and responding or reacting. The emotional limbic system also affects the process.

Accidents involving motor vehicles and falls are the leading causes of traumatic brain injury (TBI).

You can’t be fired, demoted, or otherwise punished for filing a workers’ compensation claim. It violates the Retaliatory Employment Discharge Act (REDA). This should be reported to the North Carolina Department of Labor.