Long-Term Health Issues After Brain Injury: Q&A with Dr. Brent Masel
Categories: Living with Brain Injury
How does a brain injury affect your future health? What questions should you ask your doctor during your annual physical? Brent Masel, M.D., BIAA’s national medical director, and Greg Ayotte, CBIST, director of the National Brain Injury Information Center, had an hour-long conversation about long-term health issues after brain injury March 24, live on Facebook. Watch this video for answers to these questions and other issues including:
- How our understanding of brain injury changed over the last 15 years
- Conceptualizing brain injury as a chronic disease
- What people can do to help themselves as they age with a brain injury
- Tips to improve long-term health and cognitive skills
- Age-related cognitive decline and the role brain injury may play
- Resources for people who want to learn more about aging and the brain
If you need personalized support or resources, contact BIAA’s National Brain Injury Information Center at 1-800-444-6443 or email us at info@biausa.org.
For general information about living well after brain injury, check out our Aging and Brain Injury issue of THE Challenge!
About Brain Injury:
An acquired brain injury (ABI) is an injury to the brain that is not hereditary, congenital, degenerative, or induced by birth trauma. Essentially, this type of brain injury is one that has occurred after birth. There are two types of acquired brain injury: traumatic and non-traumatic.
A traumatic brain injury (TBI) is defined as an alteration in brain function, or other evidence of brain pathology, caused by an external force or trauma. Traumatic impact injuries can be defined as closed (or non-penetrating) or open (penetrating).
Often – and somewhat confusingly – referred to as an acquired brain injury, a non-traumatic brain injury causes damage to the brain by internal factors, such as a lack of oxygen, exposure to toxins, pressure from a tumor, etc. To learn more about brain injury, click here.
