Concussions
Acute and Persistent Concussion Syndrome
Erin Newton PT, DPT recently brought our clinical focus to concussion management after completing a comprehensive course on the most current research and management of people who have sustained a concussion. Her timing on the topic is apropos with high school sports ramping up as students return to school and the looming change of seasons which has most of us dusting off our skis and HELMETS!
Points of Greatest Interest to take away for your understanding of the topic:
What is a concussion?
Rapid acceleration/deceleration – SHEAR FORCE of neurons causing a metabolic crisis for the brain.
Concussions are not just from sports
concussions occur at school or work, as a result of an MVA, as well as from military training exercises and combat … (the list goes on)
Magnesium can be taken preventatively to protect your brain from concussion although will not stop the cascade of injury completely.
Female high school athletes are 1.56x more likely to sustain a concussion and female soccer players have the highest concussion risk of all sports
SLEEP is so important for recovery
An important recovery item to note is nutrition. As research has advanced, it has been found nutrition plays a HUGE role in the metabolic recovery of the brain post-concussion, which can take up to 30 days to normalize. Protein plays a large role in building back neurologic health, but further considerations such as sugar cessation and avoiding vegetable oils can be critical as well.
If you have further questions on pre-concussion screening or treatment for Acute or Persistent Concussion, please call the clinic to schedule your appointment.
