Brain damage facts for kids
Brain damage happens when the brain gets hurt or sick. This damage affects the brain's cells. When brain cells are damaged, it can change how a person thinks or reacts. The brain might not work the same way it did before the damage.
When the brain is physically hurt, it's called a traumatic brain injury (TBI). People have known about brain injuries for a very long time. Old medical records show that doctors in ancient times understood some of these problems.
A Look Back: Understanding Brain Injuries
People have known about head injuries and their effects for thousands of years.
Ancient people in Mesopotamia knew that head injuries could cause problems like seizures, not being able to move parts of the body, or losing sight, hearing, or speech. The Edwin Smith Papyrus, an ancient Egyptian medical text from around 1650–1550 BC, describes different head injuries. It also talks about their symptoms and how easy or hard they were to treat. Ancient Greek doctors, like Hippocrates, understood that the brain was the center of thought. They likely learned this from seeing many head injuries.
One of the most famous stories about brain injury is that of Phineas Gage. In 1848, a large iron rod went through his head during an accident. This destroyed part of his left frontal lobe.
Amazingly, he recovered and seemed to have no problems with his senses, movement, or major thinking skills. However, his behavior changed so much that his friends said he was "no longer Gage." This showed that the damaged part of his brain was important for "higher functions" like personality. Since then, many other cases of personality changes after brain injury have been reported.
In the 1970s, people started to realize that TBI was a big public health issue. Since then, a lot of progress has been made in brain injury research. For example, scientists learned about primary (first) and secondary (later) brain injuries. The 1990s brought new, standard ways to treat TBI. These included guidelines for medicines and managing pressure inside the skull. Research in the 1990s also helped more people survive TBI. Because of all the new discoveries, that decade was called the "Decade of the Brain."
Images for kids
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A Coup injury occurs under the site of impact with an object, and a contrecoup injury occurs on the side opposite the area that was hit.
See also
In Spanish: Lesión cerebral para niños
