Millions of Americans sustain concussions per year, yet as many as half go unreported, and thus untreated. Attention on concussions is rising, particularly among athletes, with new protocols and assessments in place for sports like football, soccer, and hockey. There is still much work to do.
Many in the general public don’t realize that concussions can occur outside of athletics or without a blow to the head.
Even with increased societal awareness, my work with patients who have been seen by other providers before coming to me highlights that outdated methods for concussion treatment, some of which actually hinder proper recovery, are still used.
Here are five things providers should know about concussions.
This means that treatment for recovery should be multifaceted, incorporating diet, graded exercises, manual rehab, comprehensive testing, and potentially psychological support. Your patients aren’t crazy, and they certainly aren’t making their symptoms up! They just need somebody to listen with an informed perspective.
2. Concussions aren’t just a head injury; they’re a neck injury too. A whiplash injury that creates enough force to cause a concussion is also guaranteed to cause a cervical spine (neck) injury. With a jolt to the body that creates a whip-like motion of the head or neck, you can sustain a concussion even without hitting your head. I’d argue that treating the neck is likely the most overlooked component of concussion rehab – and research has caught up with this as well.
This makes incorporating neck rehabilitation after a concussion that much more important. Nevertheless, rehabilitation of the neck is hard for providers to objectively measure. That’s why new innovative systems are being introduced to the market, because there is a need for objective measures. We can now objectively look at the impact concussions have on the cervical spine, joint position sense, oculomotor control, and confirm the efficacy of our treatment and the patient’s progress.
3. Only resting in the dark won’t cut it. “Resting in the dark with no screen time until symptoms go away” is likely to do more harm than good. Guidelines show that there is no benefit from this past 24-48 hours after the concussion. There is evidence that shows light exercise helps restore proper nervous system regulation. So, rest for a day or two, but then implement exercise that doesn’t aggravate your symptoms too much, doing just a little more each day as your symptoms permit.
4. Eating right matters. A whole food diet is extremely important in the days and weeks after a concussion in order to give the brain and body the fuel it needs, while cutting down on the load of inflammation. Focusing on high quality proteins, fats, and carbohydrates – along with hydration – exponentially improves your experience after the concussion and decreases the chances of lingering post-concussion symptoms.
5. Time to treatment matters. Only 20-30% of those who suffer a concussion will have symptoms that last past 30 days – something we call post-concussion syndrome. However, the number one indicator of whether or not you will develop post-concussion syndrome is the amount of time that passes from the time of the concussion to seeing a trained provider – one who is up to date on the research and capable of testing and treating with updated protocols.
With continued attention to concussions both in wider society and in the medical community, as well as continued research of and advancement in treatment protocols, we can do our part to provide patients with better recoveries and higher quality of life post-injury.
Photo from Flickr user Guillaume DELEBARRE
As a former college football athlete, Dr. Cobb was exposed to high-speed collisions and understands the role upper cervical chiropractic care can play in rehabilitating the brain and neck. Through additional post-graduate training in concussion care, neurological rehabilitation techniques, and utilization of the NeckCare system for objective testing and rehabilitation, he has seen countless individuals heal from their concussion and live full lives once again.
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