Mild concussion treatment is used for restoring subtle brain function after a mild head impact. There are subtle changes in the skull and brain after a mild head impact. However, mild concussion symptoms in children may be so subtle that they get ignored for many years until adulthood. Functional neurology concussion treatment is used to correct those subtle changes and make the brain healthy again.
Mild Concussion Treatment with Functional Neurology
A mild traumatic brain injury (mtbi) can cause mild concussion syndrome. Concussion syndrome is a conglomerate of subtle brain changes that may only be noticeable when attempting functional neurology performance tests. We use these functional neurology performance tests to detect if these subtle brain changes are present. The performance tests are very simple muscle control tasks (muscle testing). Testing for a mild concussion could be as easy as trying to hold your arm still.
Why do we need a muscular task to assess brain function? It is uncommon to identify “brain injury” with a brain scan (MRI or CT scan) after mild head trauma. Nothing looks broken or swollen to the radiologist, but there definitely is a change in the brain’s functional neurology. A sports-related concussion usually leads to an inability of a child’s brain to perform at the same level as before. Symptoms may include: worse coordination, worse athletic performance, imbalance, bumping into things, repetitive injuries, dizziness or vertigo. Also possible are problems with leaky gut, attention deficit, learning, or difficulty with one side of the body.
“Mild TBI results in a constellation of physical, cognitive, vision, emotional, and sleep-related disturbances”
(Autonomic Dysfunction after Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Brain Sci. 2017 Aug)
Other symptoms of mild concussion syndrome may include disorientation, trouble focusing, confusion, slower reaction times, difficulty remembering things, and headaches. But there are also symptoms you might not realize are related to concussion syndrome: stomach ache, nausea, or motion sickness. Does riding in a car makes your child feel sick? Does your child have avoidance of amusement park rides? What about sensitivity to light? Feeling worse or tired after reading, or can’t read in a car? Feeling worse when watching TV or using a computer? Some of our patients can’t keep one eye open when the other is closed, or can’t roll their eyes. Feeling more tired than usual, or napping more often than before can also be a symptom of mild concussion syndrome.
Immune system function may also change after a mild head impact (post concussion); known as “immuno-excitotoxicity.” (from the book: The Craniocervical Syndrome and MRI : Smith, F.W. (London), Dworkin, J.S. (Melville, NY)). In other words, you could become sensitive to things that you weren’t sensitive to before.
Kids get minor concussions, and so do adults
Most children who get a minor concussion have not gone to the ER (emergency room)(1). As stated above, mild concussions do not generally cause positive findings on MRI or CT scan. Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) is “the invisible injury.”
Did you ever have a minor concussion? Can’t remember? Most people just ignore the minor concussions they’ve had. Did you hit your head on something while you were standing up, or bump into a glass door or window? Did something from the closet fall on your head? Have you had a nose job (rhinoplasty)? Did you have an auto collision and not hit your head (shaken brain)?
Over time, minor concussion changes can seemingly be far-removed from your brain: such as a mysterious case of constipation, or “gastro-paresis” that baffles all of your GI doctors (2). Traumatic brain injury (TBI) can lead to chronic inflammation of your gastrointestinal system, weakness on one side of your body, feeling overwhelmed, depression and feeling stuck, eyesight getting worse, or steady, unexplained weight gain. A mild concussion can lead to avoidance of certain activities or behaviors involving motion, coordination, or balance (eg. you never go on rides at amusement parks). We might even call this a mild balance disorder.
Second Impact Syndrome – Second Concussion Syndrome
Second concussion syndrome or second impact syndrome is when another mild head impact follows the original one. It’s one concussion on top of another. Without resolving some of the effects though cranial treatment, or functional neurology treatment, the damage is cumulative. CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) is the condition of pro football players who couldn’t function years after multiple hits to the head. We want to prevent CTE, and help with concussion recovery, by helping your brain to reboot.
The risk of doing no treatment is long-term brain deficit. Grades go down with multiple concussions. The likelihood of going to college goes down with multiple concussions. SAT scores go down with multiple concussions (3), but we can help.
A functional neurology doctor can determine if your child has signs of mild concussion, and help certain aspects of it to resolve. Don’t rely on cognitive testing alone. There are subtle signs that we observe in our mild concussion evaluation showing the subtle nuances of mild concussion and brain malfunction. When our evaluation shows the signs of mild concussion we can proceed with the correct mild concussion treatment.
Don’t accept waiting and doing no treatment. Get our help, now.