WASHINGTON, Jan. 24, 2014 – The Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center has released new clinical recommendations to help service members who have sustained a mild traumatic brain injury, otherwise known as concussion, to progressively return to their normal activities following their injury.
These clinical recommendations are available for military and civilian health care professionals. The recommendations can be downloaded from DVBiC’s website.
“The Progressive Return to Activity Following mTBI Clinical Recommendations are the first of its kind and are tailored for primary care managers and rehabilitation providers. These recommendations offer a standardized medical approach for service members who have sustained a mTBI to return to activity in a manner which facilitates optimal recovery,” said Army Col. Sidney Hinds, II, DVBIC national director. “We created these clinical recommendations because of a need identified by our Armed Services and Veterans Affairs stakeholders. The mTBI patient was our focus and we vetted these recommendations with our stakeholders before publication.”
These guidelines were developed with input from academic experts, sports concussion clinicians and military TBI experts and will assist health care providers as they monitor patients recovering from concussion.
“These recommendations will further improve and standardize the care provided to patients with mild TBI and offer them useful information to become more actively involved in their recovery,” said Navy Capt. Richard Stoltz, the director of the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury.
Since 2000, more than 287,000 U.S. service members have sustained a traumatic brain injury. These injuries have occurred both in training and combat. Eighty-three percent of TBIs are mild TBIs, making it the most common form of brain injury for U.S. Armed Forces personnel.
“DVBIC has more than 20-years’ experience in researching, treating and developing clinical guidance for TBI patients. Our work benefits not only military medicine, but the entire medical community as well,” said Hinds, who is board certified in neurology and nuclear medicine.
The Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center is part of the U.S. Military Health System. It is the TBI operational component of the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury.