Even Mild Head Injuries and Trauma Can Cause Mechanical Brain Damage

A mechanical engineering team led by Henry Haslach and his team are conducting a research to study the underlying mechanical processes of the brain that may be a result of mild traumatic head injuries. There is a huge body of research on the impact of repeated mild head injuries on the cognitive faculties of the brain, especially in sports people. This is the first time a study is being conducted on the brain’s mechanics and how even minor traumas damage it depending how stress waves move through the brain tissue. Unlike cartilage and arterial tissues, brain tissues are not load bearing therefore any stress no matter how mild causes damage to it. But the brain does transport stress waves in a nonlinear fashion like the other soft tissues so this study is basically analyzing the impact of stress and injury on soft tissues. This will help to understand the long term effects of mild injuries on the brain.