Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a head injury caused by blunt trauma or a penetrating head injury that disrupts the brain’s normal functioning. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that there were about 2.8 million TBI-related emergency department visits, hospitalizations and deaths in the U.S. in 2013 (the most recent year where all data was available). Falls are the leading cause of TBI, being struck by or against and object is the second leading cause, and motor vehicle crashes are the third leading cause of TBI in the United States.
Traumatic brain injury is classified by the level of severity of the injury. If you hit your head after slipping on a on wet a tile floor, your head injury would be different from one that you would get if you received a blow to the head from falling boards on a construction site, or if you were injured in a car crash.
