The Life of a BrOT

For my second neuro-note, I chose to watch the movie "The Upside" starring Kevin Hart and Bryan Cranston. In this movie, Hart plays the role of an ex-convict who is out on parole and needs to find a job. He eventually winds up working as a “life auxiliary” caregiver for a wealthy man who is a quadriplegic (Cranston). Some of the reasons why I chose this movie include wanting to learn more about spinal cord injury (SCI) and how fast one can occur, and I wanted to learn about how an OT would make an impact on someone who has sustained an injury like this.  As I was watching the movie, Cranston’s character reveals to Hart’s that he was in a paragliding accident that caused his spinal cord injury, in turn leaving him quadriplegic. A spinal cord injury is classified as damage to any part of the spinal cord or nerves at the end of the spinal canal that can be caused from a sudden, traumatic blow that fractures or dislocates vertebrae. In doing research I found that motor vehicle...

     For this first neuro-note I chose to watch the movie "Concussion" starring Will Smith. In the movie, Smith portrays Dr. Bennet Omalu, a forensic pathologist, who discovers that professional football players develop Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) after experiencing repeated concussions throughout their years of playing football. There are a few different reasons why I chose this movie, the first reason being that I have always wondered why my parents told me that playing football was dangerous growing up. The second reason is that we are covering Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI's) in my Neuro Aspects of Occupational Performance class, and I wanted to gain insight as to what happens when a person experiences a concussion.      When a football player makes helmet to helmet contact with another player, the force of the impact can be up to 100+ g forces on the head. This incredible amount of force causes the brain to experience a coup-countercoup im...