Glossary

Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) is a neurodegenerative brain disease that results from repeated blows to the head. It is a progressive disease: once it is triggered, it will worsen with aging. CTE has been found in many athletes, military veterans, and other individuals with a history of repetitive head traumas. Symptoms of CTE do not generally appear until years after the onset of head traumas, […]

Resilience is the ability to adapt positively to changes and build yourself back up after experiencing obstacles in our lives (e.g., adversity, trauma, unexpected problems and tragedies). To be resilient means that even though you cannot always change your current circumstance, you try your best to cope, modify, or change the aspects that you can control. To be resilient does not mean you will not experience pain or stress, it is how you deal with the

Taking care of someone with a traumatic brain injury may be very challenging, especially to a loved one or a caregiver. Having too much responsibility without receiving assistance or support can take a toll on someone’s mental, physical, and emotional state. It can eventually lead to caregiver burden, which is the strain or stress perceived by an individual who takes care

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) is a form of oxygen therapy that involves breathing pure oxygen in a sealed and pressurized environment or chamber. The air pressure the individual breathes is 2 to 3 times more pressurized, allowing the individual to intake more oxygen into their lungs than the average amount. This allows the blood to receive and carry more oxygen throughout the body which may providing benefits such as improving wound healing through the release of growth factors and stem cells, immunity, mental functioning, and a variety

Biofeedback is a technique that uses visual or auditory feedback to help you learn how to control some of your involuntary bodily functions, such as blood pressure and heart rate. Biofeedback is used to help manage or treat various physical and mental health problems, which include:  Anxiety   Stress  Asthma  Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder   Chronic pain  Constipation  High blood pressure  Stroke  Urinary or fecal incontinence   TBI

Our brain is a malleable structure that is constantly reorganizing itself in response to internal or external stimuli through a process called neuroplasticity. Neuroplasticity is a unique process that allows our brain to form and reorganize neural connections and pathways and create structural and functional changes in response to internal or external stimuli. These pathways in the brain are responsible for everything we do (e.g., our cognition, movements, and language). Our brain is continuously fine-tuning them by removing the ones that no longer serve us, strengthening the ones we actively

Cannabidiol (CBD) is one of the chemicals (of the chemical class called cannabinoids), that is found in cannabis sativa plants such as marijuana and hemp. The two main chemicals (also known as extracts) in the marijuana plant are CBD and Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), while hemp mostly consists of CBD. Administering CBD will not get you “high” and should not be confused with the commonly known cannabinoid THC, which produces psychoactive effects such as euphoria, resulting in feeling “high.”   Over the years CBD has become a popular topic and

Problem solving is the process of finding solutions to complex problems. It allows us to solve everyday problems so we can do our daily activities more efficiently and functionally. There are seven steps involved in problem solving, which is called the problem solving cycle. These steps are:  Step  Description  Example  Identifying the problem  Determining the

Decision making is the process of choosing between two or more courses of action. It is important for our health and well-being and allows us to make good choices and wise decisions in life. The decision-making process consists of six steps. These steps are:  Step  Example  Define the problem.  You cannot decide whether you should