When recovering from a traumatic brain injury (TBI), you may be – very understandably – frustrated if you do not experience the level of healing that you expected or hoped for over a certain period of time. Many other injuries people suffer when accidents occur – like broken bones or bruises, for example – heal relatively quickly. It may just take a matter of weeks or months for someone to fully recover. But a TBI may linger or may never heal completely.
To some degree, recovery time depends on the severity of the injury, and every case is unique. But there is one key reason why the brain tends to heal in different ways than the rest of your body does: It cannot regenerate the neurons that it needs for that healing.
Neural cells are unique
One of the biggest differences between standard cells and neural cells is essentially that neurons cannot replicate themselves in most cases. Other types of cells do have this ability, and it’s a key component in healing. Replication allows skin to create new tissue, for example, or red blood cells to increase their count. But your brain is not able to replace or replicate neural cells, so they are lost forever once they are destroyed.
What healing does occur is generally facilitated by the brain’s versatile healing ability which involves crafting new neural pathways. The brain uses remaining cells to foster new connections and re-create skills or abilities that may have been lost. But it is difficult to predict if the brain will be able to accomplish this with 100% of injury-related limitations, so some effects of a TBI may not heal entirely.
What legal options do you have?
The best chance for healing after a brain injury is to get prompt and comprehensive medical care. Unfortunately, this effort is incredibly expensive for most individuals. If you’ve been injured due to someone else’s negligence or intentional actions, be sure you know how to seek compensation. That way, you won’t be compelled to shoulder the financial burdens caused by another’s poor judgment.