Below is an excerpt from a dissertation from Don Brady, PhD, PsyD, NCSP wrote ten years ago.  Although the year of publishing might seem aged, there are pertinent and salient points to behold in this.  Without further ado…

TBI and Postconcussion:  Many Years of Controversy

Vague and inconsistent definitions of the constructs used to explain a [concussion] brain injury, coupled with confusion and misunderstanding of brain injury symptoms, create further problems in the study of sports-related concussion research.  Wills and Leathem (2001) amplify: “The quagmire created by the use of inconsistent, overlapping and poorly defined terminology relating to brain injury research is exacerbated in sport-related research” (p. 646).

Common synonyms for concussion include mild traumatic brain injury (mild TBI) and minor closed head injury (minor CHI) (Kelly, 1999). Other terms which have been utilized since last century to describe the concept of a mild brain injury include: spinal concussion, railway spine, railway brain, traumatic neurosis, nervous shock, traumatic hysteria, traumatic hysteroneurasthenia, spinal anemia, vasomotor symptom complex, litigation neurosis, compensation neurosis, accident neurosis, Erichsen’s disease, Friedmann’s disease, traumatic neurasthenia, the posttraumatic concussion state, the posttraumatic psychoneurotic state, traumatic encephalopathy, posttraumatic cerebral syndrome, posttraumatic syndrome, post traumatic nervous instability, postconcussion syndrome, postconcussive syndrome, postconcussional syndrome, posttraumatic stress  syndrome, and a persistent postconcussive syndrome (p. 32).

Gerstenbrand and Stepan (2001) also reported a variety of terms being used to describe minor brain injury: “mild head injury, mild injury, traumatic head syndrome, postbrain injury syndrome, mild concussion syndrome, postconcussional syndrome, traumatic cephalgia, posttraumatic syndrome, Commotio cerebri, light traumatic brain injury damage and mild traumatic brain injury” (p. 95).

Approximately 50% of persons who sustained a TBI experienced postconcussion syndrome (PCS), which manifested itself in various symptoms that were not present in the person prior to sustaining the concussion (Bazarian & Atabaki, 2001). Although controversy exists Continue reading →