Brain injury patients in Homestead and other communities often work hard to recover from their injuries. Even with drug treatments, rehabilitation therapy, and other options, however, some patients recover at different levels of success. Now, a new study suggests that one of the factors that could affect recovery is education.
The study, from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, found that patients with a college education may be more resilient to brain trauma and injury. Researchers concluded that patients with more education were more likely to recover from a traumatic brain injury, and the more years of education a patient had the more likely that patient was to recover. The study found that people with a college education were four times as likely to return to work or everyday activities with no disability one year after the injury when compared with patients who had not finished highs school.
Other studies have also found that higher education could help create a better “cognitive reserve” which could help patients compensate for damage to the brain. Some have also suggested that education expands and changes the brain, making a patient better able to cope with changes and difficulties by adapting more readily. Other researchers have found that patients with Alzheimer’s and other brain diseases also had a better chance of better recovery or better outcomes if they had a college education.
Brain injury patients who have been injured in a car accident or slip and fall accident in Homestead or another community, in other words, may have a better chance of recovering more fully from their injuries if their brains were already made more adaptable and strong with education.
Researchers at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine reached their conclusions by looking at the medical records of 769 brain injury patients who had sustained a moderate or severe injury when they were over 22 years of age. After one year, 28% of the patients in the study were able to return to work or their regular activities with no disability. Of these recovered patients, 39% had a college degree, 31% had some college education, and only 10% had no high school diploma.
Researchers agree that more needs to be done to study the effects of education on the brain. In some ways, the study, while interesting, raises many questions. For example, does formal education alone provide the beneficial effects seen in the study, or could non-traditional forms of learning help as well? If someone is injured in a traffic collision in Homestead or another city and only then starts to study and learn, could that be enough to improve their chances of recovery?
If you have sustained a serious brain injury in South Florida, do not hesitate to contact Flaxman Law Group for a free, no obligation consultation to review your potential case. You may qualify for compensation if someone’s recklessness or wrongful act led to your injuries. To find out more, contact our full service law firm at 1-866-FLAXMAN (1-866-352-9626).