Brain Injury Resources & Links

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Did you know at least 2.8 million people sustain a traumatic brain injury each year, and at least 5.3 million Americans live with a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)-related disability? Every year when March comes around we observe Brain Injury Awareness Month. The Brain Injury Association of America’s (BIAA) theme for the 2021-2023 campaign is More Than My Brain Injury. TBI victims believe their injury defines them and their lives. This campaign allows for these individuals to live beyond their disability, while also giving them the chance to tell their stories. At Stark & Stark we encourage everyone to join this campaign to help spread awareness and educate others about what it is like to live with a traumatic brain injury.
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Continue Reading Brain Injury Awareness Month is Here

Traumatic brain injuries are considered risk factors for other neurologic diseases such as dementia, Parkinson’s disease, and epilepsy. A recently published, British Journal of Psychiatry article discusses “Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder as a Risk Factor for Dementia.” The researchers from the University College of London, UK, Division of Psychiatry, conducted a meta-analysis searching nine electronic data bases up to October 25, 2019 for longitudinal studies assessing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and the risk of dementia. The researchers’ selection criteria was for adults 18 and older with a similar comparison group of adults without any post-traumatic stress disorder. According to the researchers, “we included studies were a diagnosis of PTSD was based upon: (a) clinical diagnostic criteria (i.e. ICD-9 or ICD-10, DSM-III, DSM-IV or DSM-V or comparable), or (b) a validated self-report scale.” Studies that did not diagnose dementia on the basis of clinical criteria (e.g. NINCDS-ADRA) were excluded.
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Continue Reading Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as a Risk Factor for Dementia

In 2001, Teasdale and Engberg published an article in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, entitled Suicide after Traumatic Brain Injury: A Population Study. The researchers reviewed data from Danish hospital admissions covering the years 1979-93 and found that patients who had sustained a TBI had an increased risk of suicide. The authors…

The theory of neuroplasticity holds that the brain will change and adapt to different conditions including to childhood injuries. This theory is often challenged and sometimes referred to as a “myth.” However, a new study by Seena Fazel and colleagues from the Department of Psychiatry at University of Oxford in the United Kingdom delivered data that supports the claims of neuroplasticity theorists. Fazel’s conclusions reveal that the later a mild TBI is sustained, the worse the health and social outcome is for the patient. The study also found a causal effect between childhood Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBIs) and the risk of brain impairment and social dysfunction at later stages in life.
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Continue Reading New Study Debunks Claim that Neuroplasticity is a Myth—the Later the Onset of Mild TBI, the Worse the Outcome

It is well known that headache is one of the most common debilitating chronic pain conditions in patients who sustain a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). No conventional pharmacological treatment has been shown to be effective in treating headaches related to traumatic brain injury (TBI). I recently read an interesting abstract published in Pain Physician…

I am pleased to alert you that my article, Neuropsychology and Traumatic Brain Injury, was recently published in the October edition of Trial Magazine, the American Association for Justice’s award-winning magazine for attorneys, law professors, judges and others in the legal community.

The article addresses important topics, such as what is a neuropsychological…

A new study published in the Annals of Neurology has found that TBI patients’ brains were estimated to be older than their chronological age, “suggesting that TBI accelerates the rate of brain atrophy.”

It is well accepted that with the use of neuro imaging, it is possible to predict age in healthy individuals. The study therefore looked to see what effect, if any, a traumatic brain injury would have on accelerated atrophy of the brain.

The researchers studied 99 patients with persistent neurological problems after traumatic brain injury and compared them with a group of a 113 healthy controls assessed on the same scanner to validate the accuracy of the age prediction model. All of the patients were scanned at least one month post injury with a range of 1 to 563 months. Of the 99 patients, 17% were classified as mild, and 83% being moderate to severe. The cause of injury was included to those injured in motor vehicle accidents, falls, assaults, sport related injuries as well as other causes.

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Continue Reading Accelerated Atrophy of the Brain Following Traumatic Brain Injury

It is presently the standard of care to keep children who have sustained concussion/traumatic brain injuries off the field and not to return to play until they are cleared by a competent professional.  Assemblywoman, Pamela R. Lampitt (D Burlington and Camden) has introduced a bill in the New Jersey Assembly, which would require any student…

This past week, I attended the American Association for Justice’s mid-winter convention in Palm Desert, California.  Besides my duties and responsibilities as Parliamentarian of AAJ, I was pleased to be invited to give a presentation at the Specialized Track: Concussion Crisis-Litigating Sports Injuries and TBI CLE program where I spoke on the topic of “Proving…