GREENVILLE, N.C. (WNCT) – What better time to draw attention to brain injuries and this type of health concern than during March during National Brain Injury Awareness month. According to the Centers for Disease and Prevention, the tricky park about brain injuries is they’re often hard to spot and treat.

“The national data shows that there are 176 brain injuries that occur every day. And it’s what I would consider the invisible injury,” said Helen Houston, O.T. Clinical Specialist at ECU Health.

Locally, ECU Health helps those with brain injuries every day.

“We have a brain injury unit in the rehab and there’s probably 15-20 beds that are full pretty much all the time and those are just the people that get admitted to rehab,” said Houston.

Houston said with brain injuries, people look fine on the outside but can really have long term effects for the rest of their lives. There are two types of these injuries: traumatic and non-traumatic brain injuries.

“Your non traumatic are things like someone just had a stroke or brain cancer or you know, there’s been some injury to the brain, but it wasn’t because of a blow or a car accident with the forces involved,” said Houston.

While traumatic injures can happen from vehicle accidents, injuries from sports, a fall or other external forces.

According to the Department of Defense, concussions can include headaches or vomiting, ears ringing, amnesia, altered consciousness, loss of consciousnesses, double vision, dizziness, or something is just not quite right. It’s advised to seek medical attention if experiencing these symptoms.

“You’re not always comparing it to everyone else’s normal so you’ve got to look at each individual person and how they are compared to what they used to be,” said Houston.

Houston added once someone suffers from a brain injury, it can definitely not only impact themselves but those closest to them.

For more information on resources and programs for those needing support, visit Programs & Support – ECU Health.