How Do You Know if You Have a Concussion?
The most common signs and symptoms of a concussion include:
What happens during a concussion?
Concussion, also known as mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), happens with a direct head to the head or with a strong hit to the body. It’s important to understand that you do not necessarily need to hit your head to sustain a concussion and many bumps to the head will not result in concussion. mTBI occurs as a result of force to the head or body that causes sudden forward and backward or side-to-side movement that can make the brain move around the inside of the skull. The force of those movements can cause shearing of the axons—the fibers that allow neurons to communicate with each other—which can then interfere with brain function. The stretching and shearing of neurons causes a neurometabolic cascade that disrupts communication between the neurons and the brain. Your brain goes into crisis mode as excess energy is required to bring your cells back to equilibrium. This disrupts blood flow to your brain which makes it harder for your brain to get energy resulting in an array of symptoms that is unique for each brain.
Concussion Red Flags
If you have sustained an intense blow to the head or the body it is important to be aware of “red flags” or life threatening signs and symptoms. If you have any of the following you should seek immediate medical care:
One pupil larger than the other.
Drowsiness or inability to wake up.
A headache that gets worse and does not go away.
Slurred speech, weakness, numbness, or decreased coordination.
Repeated vomiting or nausea, convulsions or seizures (shaking or twitching).
Unusual behavior, increased confusion, restlessness, or agitation
Barring the presence of any of the above, there isn’t a whole lot that can be done on the medical side. Here are the current guidelines for early management.
How is a Concussion Diagnosed?
A concussion is a functional injury that cannot be seen on imaging. The Post Concussion Symptom Scale (PCSS) is the gold standard for measuring symptoms. Taking the PCSS will help to confirm if you have sustained a concussion and what next steps to take. If your symptoms are greater than a 5, physical therapy will help to alleviate your symptoms. Here are some things that you can do if you have a concussion
Treatment Protocol for Concussion
It’s important to understand that early physical therapy treatment is most effective. All too often, mild head injuries are overlooked or people are advised to rest and wait for their symptoms to go away. Unfortunately waiting to get treatment can result in long-term disability and an increased risk for severe mental health problems. The sooner you seek treatment, the more quickly you will feel like yourself again and the easier it will be to treat your symptoms. A physical therapist who is trained in treating mTBI will treat the root of the problem causing each symptom vs providing strategies to cope with the symptom. With proper physical therapy post-concussion symptoms are absolutely treatable. Although treating early is best, you can still improve no matter how long ago your injury was.
If you have post concussion symptoms please do not try to persevere or suffer through them. Please do not listen to anybody who tells you that that is how you are supposed to feel after hitting your head or that they can only be “managed” and not “treated”. Concussion headache and dizziness are never “normal”. You absolutely can get better by participating in an integrative concussion rehabilitation program. “Waiting” for concussion symptoms to go away will only make them worse and result in longer treatment times.
The most effective way to treat concussion symptoms is to perform specific exercises that are designed to retrain your brain and body to function efficiently. Specifically there are 5 systems these exercises will retrain:
The Neck
The Visual System
The Vestibular System
The Autonomic Nervous System
The Cognitive System
Properly retraining each of these systems will help your brain and body to heal so that you can get back to being you and doing the things that you love to do.
To learn more about what is a concussion, concussion management strategies, and the specific physical therapy exercises you should be doing to heal your brain and body, visit The Concussion Solution: Master Program. The Concussion Solution: Master Program is an online virtual treatment program that is systematic and based on current research and follows the American Physical Therapy Association’s published clinical practice guidelines of weaving together the different systems that are affected by concussion. You can also visit our clinic in Park City, Utah.
If you would like to learn more about treating your concussion symptoms, please call us: 203 822 2098 or email us at annie@happybrainpt.com
