Neuroplasticity and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

 Evidence suggests the brain is more dynamic and ever-changing than once thought. Psychologists once believed that the brain’s ability to change - plasticity - was limited to children and young adults. In a recent legal update, Dr. Sam Goldstein first defines neuroplasticity, and then relates it to TBI recovery.

“Neuroplasticity is defined as the capacity of brain cells to fight the chemical and structural changes that occur following trauma that can eventually kill them if not controlled. Neuroplasticity also refers to the ability of brain cells to modify their activity in response to change in the environment, to store information from the environment and to permit the organism to move about and survive. Thus, all functioning brains to some extent operate under the principle of neuroplasticity throughout life.”

Dr. Goldstein notes that “the once held belief that recovery from brain injury is limited to the first one to two years following injury has now been met with considerable challenge. Further, the idea that remediation of function can only be accomplished in the first eighteen months post accident is increasingly being challenged. The idea that the development of compensatory strategies many years post accident leading to improved daily functioning may have no direct impact on the structure and biochemistry of the brain is also increasingly in question. A significant number of studies have now demonstrated that many people can make significant physical, cognitive and behavioral recovery as long as five years or more post brain injury. https://askcompetentlawyer.com/ As Stein noted in 1995, ‘There is no rule of neuroscience that the processes of functional recovery must occur rapidly or that treatment should be terminated after a fixed period of time because the early results are unsatisfactory.’”