Concussion 101

Just because you don’t participate in football or other contact sports doesn’t mean you are safe from suffering a concussion. Are you at risk? What are the signs and symptoms? How can we help?

A concussion, also known as a mild traumatic brain injury, is a transient neurologic dysfunction resulting from a biomechanical force that leads to alterations in mental state. In other words.... the brain moves quickly within the skull as a result from a

• Fall or crash

• Impact from another person or object

This alters the way the brain communicates which will impacts how the concussed person thinks or acts.

NEED TO KNOW!

You do NOT need to blackout/lose consciousness to have a concussion. Actually, only less that 10% of concussions involve loss of consciousness. 

Sometimes in sports medicine, we call concussions the "invisible injury" since the signs of the traumatic injury may not be as visible as one may expect.

The reasons these symptoms occur are because what happens with a concussion is that some brain cells die and there is an increased need for fuel for cell metabolism, but there is a decrease in blood flow to deliver the nutrients for fuel.

Concussion symptoms can be summed up in four categories:

1. Physical 2. Cognitive 3. Emotional, and 4. Sleep

Her are some common examples you should familiarize yourself with. The more you know, the more you can help yourself or the people around you!

- Headache

- Ringing in the ears

- Dizziness and nausea

- Vomiting

- Disorientation

- Incoordination

- Dazed or stunned

-Drowsiness

- Lack of coordination with movements

- Delayed response

- Difficulty recalling events

RED Flag symptoms (immediately seek medical care)

- Severe headache

- Bad neck pain particularly in the center + weakness in arms or legs

- Double vision, seizing, or convulsions

- Loss of consciousness > 1 minute

- Repetitive vomiting

Recovery and Return to Activity

Recommended 1-3 days of rest- reduction in screen time, physical and mental activities. 

Next, start to reintroduce your activities of daily living (ADL). Symptoms may re-appear or get worse. Take a step back and then continue to perform your ADLs until you feel more of your personal normalcy (everyone's normal is different).

Research shows: active recovery speeds healing!! A progressive inception of cognitive and physical activity early in recovery will help.

Looking for a Return to Play (getting back to your sport) program? We can help!! Contact MountainFit today!