Rehabilitation of the TBI survivor is being decentralized, with people moving back into their home communities. No individual physician is likely to be able to provide all the services and support required. No primary care physician wants to treat preventable conditions, preferring instead to prevent them. TBI is no exception. A few words to children and teen-agers about drinking and driving, and using seat belts and bicycle helmets can be useful additions to current prevention strategies.
Violence is the etiology for a growing number of TBIs.
Although the role of the primary care physician in violence prevention is not well defined, support, education and screening may be helpful. The person presenting with a mild TBI or returning to the community for ongoing rehabilitation of a moderate or severe TBI can challenge the primary care physician's diagnostic acumen. Sorting through a behavioral and psychosocial overlap of sometimes-vague physical symptoms may require multiple visits, and patience and support from colleagues in several specialties. As with many problems, when treating TBI and its sequelae, we are called upon to identify and treat abnormalities in an organ whose normal functions and physiology are little understood. The prevention of sport injuries of children and adolescents.