Concussions

In the past decade, concussion research and treatment has increased dramatically because of the known harmful effects of continuous trauma to the brain. Most often, patients who experience a concussion are involved in an activity, typically sport or exercise. The elderly population is also at a high risk of concussion rate because their reduced balancing abilities can lead to falling.

Importantly, a concussion is not the result of you hitting your head on a surface or an opponent, but rather it is your brain that is sliding within your skull and hits the inside walls at a high speed. There are three grades of concussions that range from severe to mild. For example, a knockout in combat sports including MMA or Boxing is a severe concussion. Alternatively, the result of a large fall from the playground will cause a mild concussion to a child.

Research on concussions has depicted that across all genders under 18 years of age, the sports of Rugby, Ice Hockey, and American Football are the leading causes of concussion. In older individuals aged 65 years or older, falling and being in motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of concussions.

The short-term symptoms of concussion include prolonged and persistent headache, sleep disturbances, sensitivity to light, memory issues, poor concentration, irritability, and depressions. These symptoms can last for 7-14 days following a concussion. Unfortunately, once you have one concussion, you become more likely to have another one and your brain becomes increasingly sensitive; especially due to age and repeated trauma.

The long term and detrimental effects of repeated concussions without proper management or treatment can lead to the decline of cognitive abilities (i.e., Parkinson's) and psychological disturbances (i.e., manic). This is the life-long lasting impact of continuous concussions, known as CTE, or being "punch drunk" in boxing terms (i.e., Muhammad Ali). These discoveries have created discussion among sporting leagues athletes and owners, and have brought in the question of athlete "toughness" in sports including ice hockey and American football being depicted as risky rather than heroic. Fortunately, these discussions have led to the introduction of concussion protocols for their athletes given across most major sporting leagues to ultimately protect the athlete. These discoveries and treatments have trickled down to the general population and now young athletes, adults, and the elderly are able to be given treatment for their own concussions because of the importance of post-injury management on a brain injury.

If you do suspect you have experienced a concussion it is critical you seek out concussion management therapy as quickly as possible because of the high risk of a second impact syndrome. That is, following the initial concussion you have another traumatic incident to the head region that can lead to life-long consequences. This is because the brain is currently weakened and highly vulnerable to near-term impacts as it has not recovered from the initial impact and thus is now additionally injured. An example of how this happens is a skier who takes a fall in the morning of the day, without realizing they have had a mild concussion, returns to the ski hill that same day and falls again; leading to another mild concussion and now has an extreme risk of long term concussion effects because of the time frame between concussion incidents.

If you resonate with any of the above symptoms; you should seek out your nearest concussion treatment centre for an assessment to determine if you have indeed experienced a concussion and how to manage this further. For those located in Toronto, Canada; we are located in Etobicoke to serve your concussion management needs.

References:

Edwards, J. C., & Bodle, J. D. (2014). Causes and Consequences of Sports Concussion . The Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, 42(2), 128–132. https://doi.org/10.1111/jlme.12126

Pfister T, Pfister K, Hagel B, Ghali WA, Ronksley PE. The incidence of concussion in youth sports: a systematic review and meta-analysis. British Journal of Sports Medicine. 2016;50(5):292–7.