Each year in the U.S. 2.4 million people, including 475,00 children, sustain a traumatic brain injury. 5.3 million individuals live with life-long disability as a result of brain injury.
52,000 people will die, 275,000 people will be hospitalized, and 1.3 million people will be treated and released from a hospital emergency room because of brain injury each year in the U.S.
Many people are unaware that mild to moderate brain injury can occur even in a low speed car crash. For example, in a whiplash injury, the driver (or passenger’s) head undergoes a rapid acceleration and deceleration as the neck is snapped back and forth. Even in a low speed collision at 8 miles per hour, the head moves approximately 18 inches, at a force as great as 7 G’s in less than a quarter of a second.
The July, 2010 issue of the journal Brain Injury, contained an article by Dr. Ezeriel Kornel and Michael Freeman, Ph.D, detailing the results of a study of brain injury in whiplash trauma cases. The study examined the MRI scans of 1200 neck pain patients, and found that those who had sustained a whiplash injury were more likely to have observable anatomical changes to the brain resulting in brain injury. Preliminary findings showed that brain injury occurred in 23% of the whiplash cases studied.
Following a rear-end collision or similar car crash, injured patients should inform their physician if they are experiencing dizziness, memory impairment, difficult vision, or other symptoms which may reveal some degree of damage to the brain.