What is Trauma?

Trauma is not commonly understood as a single disease, making it challenging for the research community to coalesce around a unified approach to the condition and for funding agencies to provide targeted support. Trauma is uniquely defined by the severity and location of the injury—as a bodily wound or shock produced by sudden physical injury, such as that from violence or an accident. Causes of trauma include vehicle crashes, severe falls, bullets, knives, blunt force, blasts and burns.

While the mechanisms of injury vary greatly, the distress to bodily systems, including uncontrolled bleeding, airway obstruction, lung injury, severe tissue damage, vascular injury, broken bones—and all the complications that result from these physical shocks—are part of a constellation of conditions we call trauma.