Soliders coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan with concussive brain injuries from explosions show problems with concentration, working memory, and multi-tasking. Dr. David Twillie, director of the Fort Campbell Traumatic Brain Injury Clinic, has developed a new method of treating these “mild” brain injuries with an 80% success rate.
The method involves identifying the part(s) of the brain which were damaged along with the functions that have been impaired, and then coming up with cognitive challenges tailored to stimulating the injured areas. Pushing the soldiers to use the damaged parts of their brains stimulates their brains to regrow brain cells, thicken synapses, and restore some of the lost brain function. Some of the soldiers helped by this therapy elected to return to the war zone for duty. Dr. Twillie believes the technique can be successfully applied to civilians with mild TBI.
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