A traumatic brain injury occurs due to a violent blow to the head, often in car accidents or assaults. While mild TBIs may heal with minimal care and a lot of rest, a severe TBI can be life-changing.
MayoClinic provides information on how to treat a severe TBI.
Rehabilitation for TBI
Many patients require rehabilitation following a TBI. You may have to go through the process of relearning how to walk or talk. You can lose your ability to perform basic skills after a TBI so rehabilitation should help you regain some of that ability.
You may begin rehabilitation in the hospital and continue it in an inpatient capacity or through the use of outpatient services. Since every person is different, the types of rehabilitation may differ from one person to the next. Common rehabilitation experts you may need to see include:
- Physical therapists
- Occupational therapists
- Neuropsychologists
- Speech therapists
The doctor who oversees your rehabilitation process is the psychiatrist. He or she has training in rehabilitative medicine.
Surgery for TBI
In serious cases, you may require surgery to minimize the damage to your tissue. If you have a skull fracture, the surgeon may have to remove pieces of the skull from the brain. Then, he or she can repair the fracture itself. Whenever the brain suffers penetration or bleeding, the physician may need to use surgery to stop the wound from bleeding. If fluid begins to build up in the brain, then the surgeon would open a window in the skull to relieve the pressure. This drains cerebrospinal fluid and gives the skull more room for the parts of the brain that swelled.
