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Edwin Smith Papyrus proves brain injuries were studied in Ancient Egypt. The document details relationships to brain injury and other parts of the body, including the possibility of paralysis.
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Phineas Gage survives an iron bar pierced through his head. Potentially the first case to prove the connection between brain injuries and changes in personalities & abilities. Found work as a travelling living museum exhibit and then as a stage coach worker before dying at age 36 after serious epilieptic seizures had started to regularly occur.
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WWI: Many soldiers incur brain injuries, giving scientists a wide range of subjects to study, increasing knowledge of the various brain functions . Rehabilitation centers were opened specifically for this and improvements in care/rehabilitation were made. Survival rate for TBI increases.
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"Modern Era" of head injury begins with the intracranial pressure monitoring. This tests the amount of pressure in the head using a small probe inserted into the skull.
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Increased awareness of TBI continues, including the knowledge of primary (from initial moment of injury) and secondary (indirect result of the injury) brain injury.
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"Decade of the Brain" - many advances in TBI are made, including new neural imaging capabilities, and survival rates dramatically increase.
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IDEA recognizes TBI as its own category granting students eligibility for special education and related services.
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Concussions from sports and its long term effects starts to be taken seriously.
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Many soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan receive injuries due to the force from explosions. Injuries are similar to a physical blow to the head and give even more awareness to the effects of TBI.
