But a concussion is a much bigger deal than people realize, and there is plenty more you can do to improve brain
recovery after a concussion.
«Our ultimate aim is to better understand the time course of neurobiological
recovery after concussion.»
Not exact matches
The problem, argues Bauman, is that too many media stories focus on professional athletes, CTE, and poor outcomes of prolonged
concussion (or sports exposure to repetitive head trauma), and [there are] too few stories about athletes who make full
recoveries and improve (even
after years of
concussion symptoms).
The emerging model of sport
concussion assessment now involves the use of brief screening tools to evaluate post-
concussion signs and symptoms on the sideline immediately
after a
concussion and neuropsychological testing to track
recovery further out from the time of injury.
Every clinician who routinely treat athletes with post-
concussion syndrome (i.e. patients whose symptoms
after suffering a sports - related
concussion persist for months or years), with whom I spoke for this article expressed variations of the same concern: that their patients, hearing media reports about athletes suffering symptoms associated with CTE (such as depression), were losing hope of a full
recovery, to the point of considering suicide.
If an athlete is allowed to continue playing
after concussion, however, their
recovery is likely to take longer, and they may be at increased risk of long - term problems (e.g. early dementia, depression, more rapid aging of the brain, and in rare cases, chronic traumatic encephalopathy, and, in extremely rare instances, catastrophic injury or death.
In most cases, athletes immediately removed from contact or collision sports
after suffering a
concussion will recover without incident fairly quickly (seven to ten days), but if they are allowed to keep playing, their
recovery is likely to take longer, and they are at increased risk of long - term problems, and even catastrophic injury or death.
The research also will investigate male / female athletes» willingness to have genetic testing that may show links to the repair and
recovery of brain cells
after concussion.
Citing a 2010 study finding that patients who had at least two 2 rehabilitation visits for persistent dizziness
after a
concussion showed improvement in their DHI scores (2), the study said that on - field identification of dizziness could lead to earlier implementation of vestibular rehabiliation and other modalities to treat dizziness, which may expedite
recovery from
concussion.
Thus, children should only engage in moderate levels of activity
after a
concussion in order not to slow down
recovery, resuming normal activities such as driving and daily chores only
after symptoms begin to clear or decrease in severity and engaging in exercise or training only
after symptoms have completely cleared, with a return to physical and mental rest if symptoms recur either at rest or with exertion; and
SCAT3), the SAC is not meant to replace comprehensive neuropsychological testing or used as a stand - alone tool for diagnose
concussions, measure
recovery, or make decisions about an athlete's readiness to return to competition
after concussion.
The researchers hope to uncover barometers that physicians can rely on to determine what, exactly, is occurring inside the brain
after a
concussion, and how long the
recovery process can be expected to take for different groups of athletes.
Concussion patients have irregular brain activity within the first 24 hours
after their injury but increased levels of brain activity a few weeks later, which suggests that the brain may compensate for the injury during
recovery, a new study reports.
After a sports - related
concussion, for example, many people make a good
recovery over several weeks.»
Assessing outcomes and
recovery time
after concussion can be very subjective.
Some athletes who experience sports - related
concussions have reduced blood flow in parts of their brains even
after clinical
recovery, according to a study presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).
These findings are reported and discussed in «Does age affect symptom
recovery after sports - related
concussion?
This week, we chat about a blood test that could predict
recovery time
after a
concussion, new insights into the bizarre hagfish's anatomy, and a cheap paper centrifuge based on a toy, with Online News Editor David Grimm.
According to Dr. Meehan, «Parents, physicians, and caregivers of athletes who suffer from a high - degree of symptoms
after a sports - related
concussion should start preparing for the possibility of a prolonged
recovery.»
Because this was a retrospective study of medical records and notes by team physicians and athletic trainers, the research team wasn't able to quantify the specific amount of time athletes kept playing before reporting a
concussion, whether that was immediately
after finishing the game or days later, to determine how the length of a reporting delay contributed to
recovery time.
«We were interested in the effect of
concussion on working memory immediately following injury and
after one week of
recovery,» explained Glenn Wylie, DPhil, associate director of the Rocco Ortenzio Neuroimaging Center at Kessler Foundation.
A
concussion can result in unchecked inflammation that slows
recovery and continues to destroy healthy brain cells long
after the
concussion.
Concussion recovery can have better outcomes when they are treated soon
after an accident.