What is concussion?

Concussion injuries can affect anyone - from elite sporting injuries to kids playground accidents to an older person falling over - and anyone in between. Concussion is a type of traumatic brain injury and needs to be taken seriously in order to achieve a full and swift recovery.

Image Source: Wickenburg Community Hospital https://www.wickhosp.com/blog/concussion-education/

Detecting concussion

Awareness of concussion signs and symptoms is greater than ever, but knowing how to manage it is a work in progress; the best thing about seeking help early is receiving up-to-date advice about what to do after a concussion, specific to your situation. Once symptoms settle, your rehab can ramp up in order to get you back to doing what you love as soon as possible.

For athletes, there are different concussion guidelines depending on your age and the sport you play and a skilled concussion physio will be across each of these.

Some of the factors impacting concussion rehab are:

1) Your dominant symptoms – clinical presentations vary and people can have more difficulty with any or all of:

Concentrating on thinking tasks
Migraine or headaches
Symptoms exacerbated by exercise or physical exertion
Worsened anxiety or depression
Dizziness and motion sensitivity
Visual disturbances such as blurred or double vision, sensitivity to light, trouble coordinating eye movements
Sleep changes
Neck pain

2) Your type of work, study, life roles, caring responsibilities, leisure etc.

In the early recovery phase, getting back to school or work takes priority and we can provide support to your school, workplace or sports club to streamline your rehab.

Recovering from concussion

The stats show that 3/4 of people recover within 4 weeks and over 95% within 8 weeks. Of the small group left with prolonged symptoms, one of the factors was increased time between injury and an initial appointment with a concussion expert.
Other things that can increase recovery time are female gender (damn hormones!), severity of injury (things like losing consciousness or having a seizure), having a history of previous concussions, migraines, anxiety or depression.
Kids and teenagers also tend to have a longer recovery time and most sporting codes allow for this and mandate greater time on the sidelines.

So, the GOOD NEWS is that you can and will make a full recovery in the shortest time possible if you:

Seek help early
Listen to the advice
Follow a progressive rehab program

Will my concussion cause lasting damage to my brain?

Patients regularly ask us if they will have long-term effects from their concussion because the media hype about CTE has been strong.

CTE stands for chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative brain disease found in people with a history of repetitive brain trauma.
Most people we see have had less than 10 concussions, and many just 1-3.
In contrast, most people diagnosed with CTE suffered hundreds or thousands of head impacts over the course of many years while playing contact sports or during military service.
Head knocks that aren’t strong enough to cause concussion (known as sub-concussive impacts) actually have a greater link to CTE.

There is still a lot to learn about CTE but with what is currently known, we feel confident reassuring people that almost everyone will make a complete recovery from their concussion without long-lasting damage. Ongoing symptoms can be very frustrating but these are not the same as CTE.

Want to know more?

At Neuro Physio Geelong, we believe our extensive neuro background, post-grad concussion and vestibular training and close links with the best local sports physicians puts us in the best position to treat concussion injuries in our region. Get in touch online or on the phone 03 4207 0279 to book an assessment.