Brain Awareness Week

This week is Brain Awareness Week, which is part of the larger Brain Injury Awareness Month. Now, we could go on all day about brain injuries, and we have in the past. It is hard to spend too much time worrying about your brain.

Today, we just want to catch you up on a few brain things you might have missed over the past few months.

·      As mentioned, it is Brain Awareness Week, an annual event organized by the Dana Foundation. The Dana Foundation is a private philanthropic organization that supports brain research and education. We fully support the Dana Foundation’s efforts to bring attention to brain science and raise public awareness about the importance of brain health. We hope you all check out the special events this week, as well as their many partners.

·      TBI is an increasingly important area of public health and safety. Although modern medicine is starting to keep pace with our world of fast cars, danger, fire and knives, the brain can still only sustain so much damage. Just staying alive isn’t the issue anymore; it is time to worry about the quality of life. Interactive Metronome^® (IM) is committed to helping people regain lost mobility, overcome cognitive deficits and get on with their daily lives. Here are some past articles on the signs of TBI and a look at the personal and social costs of dealing with a brain insult.

·      Unfortunately, the people that most often suffer brain injuries are the people that must be in harm’s way to keep the rest of us healthy and safe. Construction workers, policemen, firemen and active duty military are constantly in harms’ way. A recent DVBIC study looking into blast-related brain injuries in veterans shows that IM physiologically changes the brain. The veterans who used IM scored higher on 21 out of 26 cognitive assessments, including memory, attention and processing speed. IM offers a viable, cost-effective and drug-free training program for treatment of mild to moderate TBI.

·      Dr. Lonnie Nelson presents his finds on blast-related brain injuries in this webinar based on the DVBIC study. Dr. Nelson discusses his methods and results, which show improvement in attention, immediate memory and delayed memory function. He also discusses various indicators of neuroplastic change and how IM training is able to account for large variations in test performance.

Check out these other great webinars on brain injuries…