West Virginia residents often sustain traumatic brain injuries when they accidentally slip and fall on a wet or uneven surface. Contact sports, car accidents and assaults are some other common causes of these types of head injuries. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that 50,000 people die annually from TBIs, and these injuries result in 2.2 million emergency room visits a year.

A company called BlackBox Biometrics is developing tools that may help to prevent and treat brain injuries. One of the tools the company is working on is the Linx Impact Assessment System, a device that can be worn on a headband that can fit inside a sports helmet. The Linx IAS can measure the head trauma an athlete sustains while they are playing a game and then send that information back to a tablet to be analyzed. Medical personnel may be able to use information from the Linx IAS to decide when an athlete needs medical help.

In one of its marketing ads, Blackbox Biometrics claims that its products have value ‘from the battlefield to the playing field.” One of the other products that the company makes is the Blast Gauge System, a wearable sensor that can measure a person’s exposure to overpressure from blasts. Some of the organizations that already use this product include law enforcement SWAT teams and the FBI.

Traumatic brain injuries can cause severe symptoms that permanently alter a person’s life. When the brain damage has arisen from the negligent act of another, such as an impaired driver or a shopkeeper who failed to properly maintain the premises, an attorney can often help in seeking compensation through a personal injury lawsuit.