Traumatic Brain Injury: Clinical Applications & Plausible Interventions
Cora Stover, ND
Diana Zitserman, ND
Radley M. Ramdhan
Traumatic Brain Injury, or TBI, has been
Traumatic Brain Injury: Clinical Applications & Plausible Interventions
Cora Stover, ND
Diana Zitserman, ND
Radley M. Ramdhan
Traumatic Brain Injury, or TBI, has been noted in history, literature, and medical societies for quite some time. Boericke noted it in one of his “Never well since…” rubrics, along with other rubrics. In 1924, Cassasa was recognized as the first to describe the phenomenon and what repeated traumatic injuries might do to a person, and coined the term dementia pugillistica (or DP). Cassasa observed that boxers who were being used for training purposes would eventually display a particular pattern of symptoms.1
These symptoms first appeared in the extremities, as a slight flopping of the foot or leg, only noticeable upon walking or at intervals, or as a slight unsteadiness in gait or equilibrium. A peculiarity was the fact that these fighters could fight exceptionally well, but as soon as they stopped or walked back to their corner, the abnormality became apparent. Further symptomology included confusion and muscular slowing. Other terms historically associated with this phenomenon, which were generally applied to an intoxicated person, included: Punch Drunk, Cuck-coo, Goofy, cutting paper dolls, and slug nutty.1 Cartoons often served to depict the syndrome; some famous sayings and characters were based on this association.
Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy
Dr Bennet Omalu is world-renowned physician and neuroscientist who has been investigating the effects of repetitive brain injuries in professional sports players. It was a Professor Henry Miller who in 1966 coined the term Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) for the progressive neurodegenerative syndrome due to repetitive concussions and/or traumatic brain injuries.2 Omalu was the first to publish evidence of the syndrome in 2005.3 CTE is 1.5 times more likely to be seen in males than females.4 First discovered in the brain of NFL Hall-of-Famer, Mike Webster, in 2002, CTE was subsequently identified in NFL players, wrestlers, hockey players, deceased military veterans, domestic abuse victims, motor vehicle accident sufferers, and others.5 Bennet Omalu’s story was portrayed in the 2015 cinematic hit, Concussion, and his growing foundation and published work has continued to spread throughout the scientific and medical community.
CTE is a distinctive disease, and of