A fender bender. In a split-second, an external force shimmies the brain against the skull or pierces the gelatinous mass. That's traumatic brain injury. But defining this disability is no simple matter because the brain, the CEO of all human function, is such a sophisticated organ. Medical professionals often use the Glasgow Coma scale to label an injury as mild, moderate or severe, based on a person's consciousness and responsiveness at the time of the accident.
Symptoms vary as well, depending on which lobes have been hit.
Physical side effects, like weakness on one side of the body or slurring words, are obvious. But cognitive troubles, like difficulty reading, balancing a checkbook or remembering a phone call, can be baffling and hard to pinpoint. The coma scale and symptoms, along with medical tests like an MRI, determine if the injured person is admitted or released, assuming they were taken to the hospital in the first place. But these diagnostic tools cannot determine the long-term effect of TBI on a survivor. That's especially true in mild cases, when the injury may never be recognized.