What causes acquired brain injury?
Acquired brain injury can be caused by a traumatic or non traumatic event. Common traumatic causes include incidents on the road, assaults and falls which cause violent movement of the brain within the skull. In these cases, primary damage is caused by the ricochet effect of the brain hitting the inside surface of the skull, but the secondary damage, caused by consequent bleeding and increased pressure within the enclosed skull can often be more damaging. There is a high incidence of traumatic brain injury in young men between ages 17-24. Non-traumatic causes of acquired brain injury include strokes, tumours, haemorrhage, aneurysm asphyxiation and the effects of toxic substances. The effect of these processes is to starve the brain of oxygen causing irreparable brain cell damage (this is also known as hypoxia or hypoxic brain injury). What are the effects? Whether the brain injury is traumatic or non traumatic, the physical, cognitive and behavioural consequences can be complex and dif
