Healing – and hope – after a brain injury doesn’t have a deadline, and long-term outcomes are much better than you might realize. Even the most rapid phase of healing from a moderate to severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) is within the first six months, with improvements continuing for years after the injury. In fact, many studies look at recovery after one, two or more years as a better benchmark, including one showing improved independence from one to five years among those with moderate to severe TBIs and another showing that 74% of those with severe TBIs had favorable functional outcomes at 24 months.
Why does brain injury recovery take so long?
It’s not just the brain’s complexity that makes TBIs (a concussion is another term for a mild TBI) heal slowly. It’s the mechanisms of healing within the brain itself. Most research suggests that, usually, damaged or destroyed brain cells do not regenerate, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine (this is, however, an area of ongoing research). That means that, when you sustain a TBI, your body isn’t simply growing new cells to replace those damaged by the injury. Instead, one significant way your brain helps you get better is due to a capacity called neuroplasticity, or the “rewiring” of pathways within the brain to work around damage to neurons (the cells our brains use to communicate).
To get a sense for how this translates to your recovery, it might be helpful to think about driving. If you drive to work via the same route every day, you can likely get there much more efficiently than if you have to take a detour due to an accident or construction. But, if your usual route remains closed, you probably become more efficient at getting there through the detour, or you begin leaving earlier or shift your schedule to avoid traffic. Your brain is doing the same thing when it heals: figuring out how to work more effectively if the most direct route (in this case, the most direct pathway between brain cells) is no longer available. That takes time, but there’s a lot you and your healthcare team can do to support your healing.
The importance of treatment in traumatic brain injury recovery
Because neuroplasticity involves rewiring your brain, evidence-based therapies can help you enhance your ability to overcome challenges and restore skills and abilities, as well as cope with common long-term issues after a TBI. A multidisciplinary approach to leveraging neuroplasticity turns the passive act of waiting for your brain to heal into a proactive strategy. Depending on your individual situation, treatment might include psychotherapy, cognitive rehabilitation and/or medication. Here is how each of these might enhance recovery:
- Cognitive rehabilitation is designed to improve performance in tasks that rely on attention, concentration, memory, executive functioning, problem-solving, processing speed, and other cognitive areas after a brain injury.
- Psychotherapy can provide vital support to healing by helping address and change unhelpful thought patterns (such as those leading to anxiety or depression), which can hinder neuroplasticity. It can also help ensure that your mental health is in a strong place to support long-term rehabilitation.
- Medication management can support mental wellbeing and help you manage any physical consequences you may have after your head injury.
- Improving sleep quality. Sleep is essential for all brains, and particularly the healing brain. Working with your therapist, psychiatrist, or PCP on identifying sleep disruptors and on improving sleep quality with behavioral interventions or medication (or both!) is another important step you can take to optimize recovery.
No matter how long it’s been since your injury, the best time to start recovery is now
Whether your brain injury was months or years ago, a personalized treatment plan exists to help you. At the Center for PCS and PTSD Treatment, we have been serving patients with TBIs for over two decades, providing state-of-the-art assessment, diagnostic, treatment and rehabilitation services. You will receive an initial evaluation via secure videoconferencing platform with one of our verified therapists. From there, they will build a treatment plan (usually 12 sessions, spread over six to 12 weeks) specifically tailored to you. Ready to take the first step? Schedule your appointment HERE.
