A traumatic brain injury is often easily suspected and can be confirmed and treated if necessary following an injury using a blood analysis, but scientists are reporting that even one mild blast to the brain can cause very subtle but permanent damage as well. Urine analysis taken within one week of a mild to traumatic brain injury also can provide faster diagnosis and treatment for such injuries.
After a season of college football, portions of players’ brains can show worrying signs of damage, even if they did not experience a concussion, according to a timely new study of contact sports and brain health. The study, which concentrated on changes to white matter in players’ brains, amplifies growing concerns about the effects of repeated, subconcussive hits to the head and whether we are doing enough to protect athletes from knocks that once might have seemed minor.
A blow or a jolt to the head can cause a concussion or traumatic brain injury (TBI). An injury to another part of the body that transmits force to the head can also result in concussion. The injury keeps the brain from working normally. Symptoms of a concussion may last less than a day or may linger for months, or longer.
In 2017, 2.5 million high school athletes reported having at least one concussion. 40% of athletes admitted they have had more, but didn't speak up.
The scariest part about concussions is that some athletes will play it off as a headache, but Sanford Physical Therapist Brad Reed says, "It's actually the brain rattling around inside the skill. The chemistry in the brain becomes mixed up if you will."
"Legal blindness" is a definition used by the United States government to determine eligibility for vocational training, rehabilitation, schooling, disability benefits, low vision devices, and tax exemption programs. It's not a functional low vision definition and doesn't tell us very much at all about what a person can and cannot see.
Most surveys and studies indicate that the majority of people in the United States with vision loss are adults who are not totally blind; instead, they have what is referred to as low vision. You may have heard the terms "partial sight" or "partial blindness" or even "poor vision" also used to describe low vision. Those descriptions are no longer in general use, however.
Researchers compared visual acuity assessment with a novel smartphone app (Peek Acuity) and a standard method in 111 children (ages 3–17 years) who were referred to an ophthalmology clinic.
Children underwent monocular vision assessments with both methods, in random order. The app was used as follows: with the examiner holding the phone two metres away, the child indicated the direction of the arms of an “E” displayed on the screen, and the examiner swiped the screen in that direction.
Older adults aged 60 years and above with these conditions may have fewer years of life as well as healthy life compared to those with no impairments.
Out of the five physical senses, impairment in vision and hearing, especially simultaneously, may have the greatest impact on the health of older adults.
Vision therapy can help improve children’s reading levels, according to Dr. Julie Steinhauer.
Steinhauer is a developmental optometrists with 18 years of experience. She uses syntonic phototherapy and traditional in-office vision therapy to correct vision problems.
Steinhauer specializes in helping children with learning-related vision problems. She said the average child improves three to seven grade levels in reading comprehension following 10 months of vision therapy.
Since elementary school, the boy "had a daily portion of fries from the local fish and chip shop and snacked on Pringles, white bread, processed ham slices and sausages."
A British teenager who had been a "fussy eater" since elementary school lost his vision and suffered significant hearing loss due to his years’ long diet of junk food, according to a recently published case report.