The New Science of Concussion Recovery

I’m not a snowboarder, but I’ve been up-side-down, looking at the sky plenty of times

Those who say “TBI recovery is not possible” can … [insert dismissal here]

Check out this article:

The New Science of Concussion Recovery

Breakthrough therapies are helping athletes recover from injuries previously thought untreatable. But many doctors remain unaware of the advancements.

By: Kelly Bastone

Jan 9, 2015

It’s about seven months old… can’t believe I didn’t see it sooner.

Or maybe I did, and I forgot? That’s always possible.

From the article:

Therapies are tailored to the patient’s particular symptom set, since researchers now recognize six different types of concussions: anxiety/mood; cervical, which can lead to headaches; post-traumatic migraine; ocular dysfunction; vestibular, or difficulty with balance, motion, and coordination; and cognitive/fatigue, which causes concentration issues. A person suffering from an anxiety/mood concussion, for example, might become prone to angry outbursts, while someone with ocular dysfunction might feel woozy when surrounded by moving objects.

…

One of this year’s program visitors was Laura Fraser, whose concussion spanned three types (vestibular, ocular, and anxiety/mood). Her prescriptions included staring at a point on the wall while shaking her head, seeking out crowded places where people bustled around her, and focusing on objects at different distances. Her clinicians also insisted that she start exercising again. Running or biking, initially for 20 minutes a day, became part of her recovery program. “It was the opposite of what I’d been hearing for a whole year,” she says. But it worked. By December, she was symptom-free and cleared for more snowboarding.

“I could feel improvement every time I did the exercises,” says Fraser. “With the ‘just rest’ approach, I was waiting for something to happen,” she explains. By contrast, the active therapies gave her a sense of control over her injury.

I do take issue with how lightly they dismiss concussion / TBI. The article says, “Head injury symptoms that clear up overnight or within a few days shouldn’t pose a concern.”  And that concerns me a bit.

On the whole, the news about new treatments is encouraging, but it might be premature to declare victory in the Battle Against TBI. There’s a lot more to the story than you can get in one magazine article.

You be the judge. Read the whole article here: http://www.outsideonline.com/1928476/new-science-concussion-recovery