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Why doesn’t the brain heal?

On Behalf of | Aug 17, 2022 | Social Security Disability

Your brain can certainly heal to some extent. If you suffer a brain injury on the job or in a car accident, for example, you may have symptoms that go away with time. Minor symptoms could be gone after just a few hours. Major symptoms after a traumatic brain injury could take months or even years.

But there are also a lot of situations in which full healing just does not happen. The brain lacks the ability to entirely heal itself the way that some other organs are able to do. Why is this?

Regenerating cells

The problem comes when brain cells have been lost. If skin cells die, your skin can regenerate. If your body needs more red blood cells, it can create them. But, for the most part, it is not able to create the neural cells within your brain that would be needed for the style of healing.

Instead, the brain will attempt to find new neural pathways. This is why some people seem to have a miraculous level of healing. The brain simply finds a different pathway that allows them to have the same skills. But it is not always possible to find a secondary option, and some skills may be lost forever. This is especially true if there’s been extensive damage and many brain cells have been lost.

What are your options?

It can be very frustrating when you are getting medical treatment and resting, hoping to heal, and that healing just isn’t coming. This may mean that something you thought was a simple injury turns into a lifelong disability. Be sure you know about all of your legal options.