Health Matters With TSET: Recovering after a traumatic brain injury

Millions of Americans are living with a disability because of a traumatic brain injury. TBIs can range from a mild concussion, to a life-threatening injury, with different outcomes for everyone.

In today's Health Matters with TSET, Amy Slanchik shows us what recovery can look like.

Therapies After a TBI

"Every time you reach a green cone, you're gonna tap it with each foot,” Physical Therapist Dr. Matthew George said while demonstrating what physical therapy can look like after experiencing a traumatic brain injury.

In some cases, patients are relearning how to walk.

"A lot of times with a brain injury, the person has one side of their body that doesn't work equally to the other, so walking in a circle towards your left, is a completely different challenge to walking around the circle towards your right," Dr. George said. 

Dr. George, who works for Ascension St. John in Tulsa, uses small colorful cones to get creative, coming up with different patterns for patients to follow.  

"Brain injury recovery involves much repetition,” he said. “The brain makes new pathways based on the demands that are applied to your life. If you sit down and rest all the time, your brain doesn't know it needs to get better."

While physical therapy helps patients regain their strength and balance, occupational and speech therapies play a critical role in recovery, too. Occupational therapy helps patients with daily tasks like getting dressed and cooking. Speech therapy helps with cognitive challenges like memory and problem solving.

What Can Cause a TBI

Neurosurgeon Dr. Yashar Kalani said TBIs are common for athletes playing sports like football, gymnastics and cheer. He said minor TBIs are most common, and patients usually experience headache and fatigue. They may also have vision issues. 

He said for most cases, treatment involves hydration and rest; the body needs to heal itself and avoid chances for repeat injuries. 

"Repetitive, minor hits to the brain, or shaking of the brain and the skull, can cause injury to the brain,” Dr. Kalani said.

But TBIs can also happen after a car wreck, a bad fall, or a shooting.

Dr. Kalani points to the success he saw with Aurash Zarkeshan. Dr. Kalani operated on him in 2020, after Zarkeshan was shot during a traffic stop when he was an officer with Tulsa Police.

While TBIs can sometimes be deadly, Kalani said it is possible to get back to a normal life.

"Can they integrate back into life? Can they function? Absolutely,” Dr. Kalani said.

Prevention

AMY: "What's the best thing someone can do to protect themselves?

KALANI: If you're participating in an activity that you know is gonna involve potential contact with the head, it's wearing a helmet. Can't be stressed enough. As a driver, wear your seatbelt. You'd be surprised how many patients I take care of whose injuries could have been prevented, or could have been minimized, if they wore a seatbelt, if they took care of themselves." 

More Information

Dr. Kalani said some states have started programs for TBI patients to help with diagnosis and treatment, and would like to see Oklahomans have similar resources.

The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine says the cost of treating and rehabilitating TBI patients costs the U-S about $30 billion each year.

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