Journalism in the Public Interest

Traumatic Brain Injury in Theater: When Blasts Damage the Brain


Return to the main story.



An explosion generates a blast wave traveling faster than sound and creating a surge of high pressure followed by a vacuum. Studies show that the blast wave shoots through armor and soldiers' skulls and brains, even if it doesn't draw blood. While the exact mechanisms by which it damages the brain's cells and circuits are still being studied, the blast wave's pressure has been shown to compress the torso, impacting blood vessels, which send damaging energy pulses into the brain. The pressure can also be transferred partially through the skull, interacting with the brain.


Shrapnel and debris propelled by the blast can strike a soldier's head, causing either a closed-head injury through blunt force or a penetrating head injury that damages brain tissue.


The kinetic energy generated and released by an explosion can accelerate a soldier's body through the air and into the ground or nearby solid object. Once the body stops, the brain continues to move in the direction of the force, hitting the interior of the skull and then bouncing back into the opposite side, causing a coup-contrecoup injury.
