Traumatic Brain Injuries and Concussion Symptoms

Featuring Dr. Brad Hallam, PhD, R. Psych

Duration: 1 minute, 28 seconds

Mild traumatic brain injury is the most common form - about 70 to 90 percent of brain injuries are mild.

And so the common symptoms associated with that would be feelings of confusion, irritability, changes in memory and concentration, headaches, difficulty sleeping. Those are some of the common symptoms of mild traumatic brain injury.

In moderate and more severe traumatic brain injury, those are more easily recognizable. Typically someone is having difficulty staying alert or staying conscious, may have difficulty moving parts of their body or have changes in their speech.

In severe traumatic brain injury, the symptoms are much more easily recognizable. So you would see changes in physical functioning, where someone would need to use a cane or a walker. Their speech would be noticeably slurred or changed, or having difficulties speaking. Very similar to what you would expect to see in a severe stroke.

With any level of traumatic brain injury the best starting place is to talk with your family doctor. There's a lot of growing awareness around traumatic brain injury symptoms and prevention. In 2003 the Center for Disease Control and Prevention called this the “silent epidemic” and because of that there's a lot more education that family physicians have in recognizing the symptoms.

Presenter: Dr. Brad Hallam, Psychologist, Vancouver, BC

Local Practitioners: Psychologist