What is a concussion?

A concussion is a traumatic brain injury (tbi). A tbi can be further categorized into mild, moderate, and severe forms. It is vitally important to understand that to have a concussion does not always mean to have a direct hit to the head and a loss of consciousness. When there is a loss of consciousness, it is simply a more moderate or severe form of a tbi. Indirect trauma that causes the brain to move within the cranium also causes concussions and concussion symptoms. This includes being exposed to blast sites, high powered engines, and large ammunition rounds.

How long before symptoms?

Symptoms with concussions can appear immediately. These symptoms can be observed as a loss of consciousness, losing sense of time, lack of awareness, tears, light and sound sensitivity, headaches, neck and back discomfort, brain fog, irritability, difficulty sleeping, and other coping disorders. These symptoms can gradually decrease with time, but may never fully resolve. As symptoms continue and manifest in other ways, the effects are known as post concussion syndrome (PCS). Post concussion syndrome can be diagnosed months, years, or even decades after the initial tbi occurred.

What does a concussion do to my brain?

A concussion is a brain injury. With an injury comes an immune response, including inflammation. Neuroinflammation, which is to say inflammation of the brain, is impossible to predict the ultimate effect on the brain. Some may suffer from visual black spots, while others feel their heart racing, and somebody else has difficulty sleeping. While these symptoms may seem unrelated in terms of how they are experienced, the nuclei of these nervous system pathways share space in the brainstem where they are located. This means that while the symptoms may be vastly different, it is the reasonable to suspect which area of the brain or brainstem may be affected by understanding where the nervous system pathways exist.

How to treat my concussion?

Rest is the most common treatment for a concussion. While rest is certainly recommended, it is not nearly enough. While the brain is healing from the effects of the concussion, it is rewiring itself to adapt to its new environment. The brain has an important job to do. It coordinates the actions of every cell, every hormone, every peptide, every organ, every ounce of blood, and every molecule of oxygen to keep us alive. The brain undergoes neuroplasticity in this way to keep itself working as best as possible. In response to an injury and compensation, this is an example of negative neuroplasticity. This changes the nervous system in ways that creates the symptoms we feel from the concussion. It is the changes in the brain that create a downstream problem because of the brain’s new altered state of sensory processing.

To have positive neuroplasticity is to bring healing and repair to damaged nervous system pathways to overcome the compensation of the brain injury. Because no two concussions are the same, a thorough evaluation is necessary to understand what areas of the brain and nervous system are impacted. A specific and individualized care plan is then created and executed to help reduce and eliminate your symptoms.

SCC Neuro’s Approach in Fort Mill, SC

At SCC Neuro we understand the impact a concussion can have on the brain and nervous system. That is why we stick to our process of completing a full exam for any concussion patient. Findings of previous concussions can manifest in many ways. This includes changes in pupillary reaction to light, differences in blood pressure from side to side, differences in muscular tone, and even increased pain or sensitivity to stimuli. Our 90 minute new patient exam is geared to understanding how the concussion happened, the effects of the concussion since, and how your nervous system has been impacted. After our exam, the treatment begins. Think of concussion treatment as rehab for your brain and nervous system. We use some of our brain based therapies to treat the brain and nervous system to reduce and eliminate the intensity, severity, and frequency of your concussion symptoms. We never guarantee how long a treatment plan will be. Often times the effects of a concussion have been building for days, months, or years and we must understand that it takes time and repetition to create the neuroplastic changes for which we are looking.