What is an acute or severe brain injury?

Acute brain injury is another term for severe brain injury.  The medical definition is a brain injury that results in loss of consciousness for 6 hours or more and rates a score of 3 to 8 on the Glasgow Coma Scale.

Glasgow Coma Scale

This is a system used by physicians and other medical personnel to diagnose and assess the symptoms of a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI).  It is a 15 point scale that measures motor responses (muscular movement), verbal responses (speech, sounds) and eye movement.

Scoring:

• 13 – 15 – Mild disability
• 9 – 12 – Moderate disability
• 3 – 8 – Severe disability, reflecting a coma (unconscious state) where there are no meaningful responses or voluntary activities.
• 0 – 2 – Vegetative state

It is estimated that over 5 million Americans currently live with a TBI disability.

Severe TBIs effect:

• Attention and memory
• Extremity (arms and legs) strength
• Coordination and balance
• Hearing
• Vision
• Perception
• Speech
• Touch
• Emotions – depression, anxiety, mood swings