Every day, 90 New Zealanders sustain a brain injury. Sudden knocks to the head through falls, sporting injuries and car crashes can all result in a brain injury. A concussion, no matter how mild, is a brain injury.

Brain injury is a general term referring to any injury to the brain. The following are all examples of brain injury: Strokes and aneurysms, Infections, such as meningitis, Hypoxia (lack of oxygen to the brain), Brain tumours and Neurotoxic disorders: drugs and alcohol, pesticides, gases, solvents can all lead to a brain injury.

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is injury to the brain resulting from externally inflicted trauma and are classified as mild, moderate or severe injuries, depending on the length of time a person has been unconscious and the loss of memory they have.

Mild Traumatic brain injury is also known as concussion – in most people, these symptoms resolve within 1-14 days, however in about 10% of people have symptoms that persist for 3-6 months. Please see concussion page for more information regarding typical symptoms and treatment options.