When you don’t wake up as you would normally do one morning then find yourself in a hospital bed a couple of months later, how can this be described as a head ‘injury?’ In comparison, the likes of David Busst , whose football career ended as a result of a horrific football ‘injury’ due to a collision on the football field. There is really no comparison although equally horrific.

There is a certain stigma attached to the word ‘injury’, one that is particularly associated with accidents had by young children. We have all fallen over when a young child and grazed our knee or even those of us that are sporting have pulled a hamstring or gained some sort of injury as a result of a collision in the field of play.

The problem comes when trying to find an alternative word that is suitable to categorise those of us that have had a brain ‘injury’. One alternative that has been brought to my attention recently, when reading Robert McCrum’s book about his stroke as a young man, is the word ‘insult’. Now those of you like me, who have had a brain ‘Injury’ or been associated with a brain injury will know it is hard to find a word that is suitable to categorise us all, after all we are all individuals with different circumstances. Now the word ‘insult’ can also be misconstrued as we all know an insult is something that can be used to express a feeling like those hurled at opposition football teams by devoted fans or used by louts out on the town when too many have been drunk.

The best alternative that I have thought of is ‘trauma’. After all we have all suffered a trauma to the brain, be it as a result of a car accident or as a result of unavoidable life saving surgery. Even when picking up a thesaurus and scanning through potential alternatives it is hard to find one word suitable. Suggestions welcomed?

James Greenberry