How Is It Used to Evaluate a Traumatic Brain Injury?
When you’ve been injured in any accident that involves a bump or blow to the head, or a sudden shaking of your head, there’s a significant risk of traumatic brain injury. Though your brain is well-protected inside your skull, the blunt force of impact or the violent movement back and forth can cause your brain to bounce off the inside of your skull, potentially causing bruising, broken blood vessels, bleeding, swelling and inflammation.
Your first course of action after any trauma to your head or neck should be to schedule an appointment with your primary care physician as soon as possible (unless, of course, you need medical care on an emergency basis). Your primary care physician can conduct the initial examination and determine whether you can be treated there, or need to be referred to a specialist, such as a neurologist or a physiatrist.
Because most traumatic brain injury is fully contained inside your head, and therefore not visible to the naked eye, diagnosing the extent of a traumatic brain injury can be difficult. X-rays and MRIs typically don’t produce images that allow for a definitive diagnosis. How, then, will a doctor determine the seriousness of your injury?
One of the common tools to assess the extent of a traumatic brain injury is the Glasgow Coma Scale. It’s used primarily to determine a person’s level of consciousness after a TBI. The scale looks at three specific factors—eye opening, verbal response and motor response—and assigns points based on the doctor’s observations:
- Eye opening—up to four points
- Verbal response—up to five points
- Motor response—up to six points
Under the scale, a score of 8 or less is considered severe, a score of 9 to 12 is moderate and a score of 13 or higher is mild.
Contact Us to Set Up an Appointment
At Advantage Healthcare Systems, we have extensive experience working successfully with individuals who suffer any type of TBI or traumatic brain injury. Call us toll-free at 1-877-487-8289 or fill out the form provided below to schedule an assessment. We offer locations across Texas, including Fort Worth, Dallas and San Antonio.
