Posted by For my STEAM project, I discussed the effects of traumatic brain injuries as this expands on objective of the nervous system. I displayed how the brain injury occurs and the effects on the brain activity. Since I love soccer and millions of traumatic injuries occur from this sport, I portrayed my project through a soccer player getting a brain injury from hitting the ball on his head and colliding with another player in the process. The painting shows the deacceleration and acceleration of the brain that causes the damage to the brain. I also painted the differentiation in the brain activities of a normal brain, a mild traumatic brain injury(concussion), and a severe traumatic brain injury. The final painting below demonstrates the axonal injury to a severe traumatic brain injury.
That is all!
-Alex Mixan
Having recovered from a mild concussion, Alexandra was interested in sharing her research about symptoms of and recovery for traumatic brain injuries in soccer collisions and how it related to our course objective on the nervous system. She explained in her research that many traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) go unreported and undetected, so recognizing the symptoms of brain damage from an accident is important for a person so they can receive help sooner and recover better. Head injuries can disrupt normal brain function and for younger people even damage their ability for their brain to develop fully. Alexandra shares lots of symptoms that if noticed could help in recognizing a traumatic brain injury and if recognized a person could get a doctor’s treatment, prevent other injuries and more damage to the already injured brain. If an accident is bad, the brain’s neuronal axons may be injured and severed leading the neurons to fail. This can lead to severe brain damage. After any accident, it is especially important to watch for possible symptoms of a concussion or more severe brain trauma. It may be necessary to see a doctor for an evaluation, rest a lot more, and wait for complete recovery before going back to normal life. Alexandra’s paintings for this Steam project are excellent depictions of her research showing visuals of what an injury to the brain might look like during a soccer collision; the difference between a normal brain, mild and severe brain injuries; and what axonal injury would look like if damaged in an accident. These pictures were immensely helpful for explanation purposes. Overall, I believe Alexandra did an excellent job on her research for this project and the visual representation of her research.