A concussion is a traumatic brain injury (TBI) caused by a blow, bump, or jolt to the head or body that causes the brain to move rapidly back and forth. The sudden movement can cause the brain to twist or bounce, leading to chemical changes and sometimes damaging brain cells.
Because concussions are rarely life-threatening, medical providers may describe the condition as a mild brain injury. Still, the effects can be serious. A person with a severe injury must be hospitalized and may face long-term challenges with:
- Thinking
- Memory
- Coordination and balance
- Learning
- Emotions
- Speech, hearing, and vision
Severe injury can impact all aspects of life, including social relationships, work, or the ability to do normal daily activities.
Concussion Treatments
There are several ways to tackle treatment and expedite recovery.
Physical and Mental Rest
In the first few days, letting your brain rest is the most appropriate way to let it recover. Your doctor will recommend physical and mental rest following a concussion.
Relative rest, including limiting activities that require mental concentration and thinking, is advocated for a couple of days after an injury. But complete rest, such as avoiding all stimuli in the dark, is neither beneficial nor recommended.
Instead, you should avoid any physically-taxing activity that exerts your body and increases symptoms until such a time that they no longer do.
Chiropractic Care
Conventional medicine usually focuses on prevention and medicated management. Both are suitable ways to handle an injury, especially in terms of prevention; after all, wearing a helmet while playing sports could prevent a TBI in the first place. But with chiropractic care, you can take treatment one step further.
Instead of throwing anti-inflammatories at your muscles, your chiropractor will attempt to address the root cause, which is often a musculoskeletal or nervous dysfunction.
In the spine, 33 vertebrae work to keep you upright and active, including those that hold your head in place. Experiencing whiplash or blunt force in the brain can knock the vertebrae out of place; even a millimeter’s misalignment could disrupt cellular communication and result in a surprisingly high number of symptoms.
Seeing a Chiropractor
Although your first stop after a concussion should always be your doctor or the emergency room, a chiropractic doctor can evaluate and help manage your symptoms in the long-term. Chiropractors with sports training medicine are often especially well-trained to treat concussions, but all have the basic expertise to help.
Returning to Routine Activity
As your symptoms get better, you may slowly introduce new activities that involve more mental exertion. Your doctors can tell you when it’s safe to resume light physical activity. When all of the symptoms have resolved, you can start a discussion about returning to safe sports without risking another brain injury.
Causes of Concussion
Brains are made of soft and squishy tissue. It’s cushioned by a layer of cerebrospinal fluid that protects it from hitting the skull. A concussion happens when you experience a blow or whiplash-type movement that causes the brain to collide with the skull. The injury stretches and sometimes damages brain cells, which can cause alterations in the brain.
The leading causes for concussions, as seen in emergency departments, include:
- Falls
- Auto accidents
- Unintentionally being struck by an obstacle
- Playing sports
Each of these injuries can cause abnormal brain function for a period of time, resulting in the symptoms of concussion. Car accidents, falls, and injuries while playing a sport are common causes; any contact sport could lead to a concussion. For kids, most of these injuries occur while riding bikes or playing sports like football and wrestling on the playground.
In most cases, concussions aren’t life-threatening. Still, the effects can last for days, weeks, or even longer.
Symptoms
Common concussion symptoms include:
- Headache
- Confusion
- Nausea or vomiting
- Double or blurry vision
- Balance problems/dizziness
- Temporary loss of consciousness
- Feeling drowsy or tired
- Sleep pattern changes
- Ringing in the ears
- Being irritable. nervous, or anxious
- Feeling in a “fog” or “not right”
Symptoms in infants and toddlers can be challenging to diagnose since they’re unable to say what’s wrong. Watch for the following symptoms in young children:
- Head bumps
- Being irritable, cranky
- Vomiting
- Sleepy at unusual times
- Will not nurse or eat
- Blank stare
- Fussier than usual
Of course, you need to see a doctor after you or your child bumps their head.
Types of Concussion
Doctors determine how severe a concussion is by three grades ranging from mild to severe. Some signs make it clear which grade you’ve experienced.
Grades 1 and 2
A Grade 1 concussion is the most mild form; symptoms don’t last any longer than 15 minutes.
Grade 2 is more intense. This moderate injury results in symptoms longer than 15 minutes, but you still don’t lose consciousness. Factors like symptom intensity and durability will determine which grade your injury is.
Even if a doctor diagnoses you with a Grade 1 or 2 injury, don’t assume that means you’re safe to return to normal life. You may need to wait until certain symptoms clear up before continuing regular activities, which could take as long as a week.
Grade 3
The most severe brain injuries are Grade 3 and may include a loss of consciousness, even just for a couple of seconds. Doctors always recommend getting a medical evaluation for this type of injury; a severe concussion could result in life-threatening complications, such as brain bleeding.
There may also be cognitive problems following a Grade 3 injury. A doctor may ask simple questions to evaluate your concentration and memory.
Hitting your head can result in a robust list of symptoms that seem minor at first, such as a headache and dizziness. Still, visiting your doctor for next steps is the best course of action.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are concussions?
A concussion is a strike to the head or body that results in symptoms like headache, dizziness, and confusion. It is the result of microscopic brain injury that is sometimes not detected on brain scans.
What happens during concussions?
A strike to the head or body can cause the brain to rapidly move back and forth, colliding with the skull. These can also result in rotational injuries in which the brain twists and possibly shears some nerve fibers. It’s not currently known what exactly happens to the brain cells, but chemical function changes appear to happen. In other words, a brain injury could lead to a robust menu of symptoms that burdens the body during recovery.
Are concussions common?
Concussions are the most common head injury. Falls are most common in infants and the elderly, but motor vehicle accidents cause the most concussions otherwise. Males are three times as likely to experience a head injury.
How long do concussion symptoms last?
Though more than half of people with minor brain injuries have symptoms a week after the incident, more than 80% recover within one month. Symptoms gradually go away for most, but a small percentage of patients still have them after six weeks. At this point, they are diagnosed with post-concussion syndrome.
What determines a concussion’s outcome?
Everyone heals differently; recovery depends on age, health, severity of the concussion, and whether or not this is their first. Remember, more than 80% of people recover within three weeks of their injury with correct treatment management.
