Suffering a brain injury can impact many areas of your life, and in severe cases, it may even mean that you or a loved one end up needing a lifetime of medical care and attention. Traumatic brain injuries, which range from mild to severe in nature, can lead to a wealth of sensory and cognitive issues, and while, often, brain injury sufferers experience similar symptoms, their injuries arise from a variety of different circumstances.

Brain injuries typically occur following a sudden, violent blow to the head or body, and they may, too, arise, if a sharp or penetrating object, such as a knife or bullet, comes in contact with your head. In some cases, the exact cause of a brain injury is hard to determine. In others, key symptoms associated with the injury do not become apparent until sometime after the initial impact. If, however, you suspect that you or someone you love suffered a TBI, know that many people suffer them after the following situations:

Car accidents

Car accidents are among the leading causes of modern traumatic brain injuries. This is due at least in part to the high-impact nature of many car accidents. If you are on a bike or motorcycle and a car strikes you, you may also suffer a TBI, though you can reduce your risk to some extent by consistently wearing a helmet.

Slip-and-fall accidents

Slip-and-fall accidents are another leading cause of TBI, and they are particularly common among the elderly, who often have numerous risk factors for falls. Young children, too, are at high risk of suffering a fall and a head injury as a result, and falls arise from numerous circumstances, among them slippery surfaces, cluttered pathways and the like.

Violence

While knife and gunshot wounds can cause brain injury, so, too, can other types of physical assaults. Babies are also at risk of shaken baby syndrome, which is a type of brain injury that can occur when someone shakes a young baby vigorously.

While these are some of the most common causes of modern TBIs, please note that this is not an exhaustive list of all leading causes.