Another view: We're committed to learning more about TBIs

For the Department of Defense and the Military Health System, traumatic brain injury, or TBI, continues to be a matter of significant concern and diligent research.

Since 2000, more than 400,000 service members have been diagnosed with some severity of TBI. The overwhelming majority of these were “mild” TBIs, or what most people would refer to as a concussion. Perhaps, surprising to some, the vast majority — more than 80% — of these injuries are sustained not in a war zone but right here at home.

Regardless of how such injuries occur, DoD is firmly committed to learning more about how to prevent, identify and treat TBIs. From 2013 to 2017, the department invested more than $ 1.2 billion into TBI research and conducted more than 600 research studies. We developed the Military Acute Concussion Evaluation 2, a screening tool used by medics and corpsman, first responders and other providers to assess for concussions that, more often than not, leave no visible trace.

We’ve instituted a progressive return to activity protocol following concussions, and researched the long- term and late effects from brain injuries. We are investigating whether blood biomarkers can help us better understand and identify the physical effects of TBI, as well as how such injuries impact the structure and functioning of the brain.

These are but a few among hundreds of examples of DoD’s dedication to state- of- the- science care from point of injury to reintegration for service members, veterans and their families to prevent and mitigate consequences of mild to severe TBI.

We are just beginning to unlock the secrets of the brain, and the physical and psychological effects of head injuries. There is virtually no limit to how far we will go in the years to come to rapidly treat these often invisible injuries. For more information, visit the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center at dvbic. dcoe. mil to learn more about our efforts.