Concussions or any injuries to the head can be extremely dangerous, especially if left untreated. Whether you received a blow to the head while playing sports, during a car accident, or a bad slip and fall accident, treating your concussion as soon as possible is the best way to avoid serious medical complications with life-altering results.
Over 3.8 million concussions happen each year, and almost half of them go undetected and without medical care and diagnosis. It happens more often than not that people will withhold treatment because they are unaware of their condition or that they have a concussion at all.
The bottom line is that you should always seek medical attention if you suspect that you have a concussion.
Recognizing and receiving treatment after a concussion diagnosis is the first step toward recovery, and Optimum Health Rehab has what it takes to help you the rest of the way. Call us today to schedule your initial appointment by calling (678) 546-0550 or submitting an online form.
Proven Effective Forms of Concussions Treatment
After performing diagnostics, your provider will create a treatment plan made specifically to treat your concussion symptoms and injury. With a combination of different treatments like physical therapy, neurological treatments, chiropractic sessions, and more, clients will find that the treatments they receive target the areas of pain and discomfort.
Rehabilitative Treatment
Concussions can often inflict motor coordination issues while causing muscle and neurological abilities to atrophy, especially if the patient sustained serious brain matter damage or required extensive bed rest to recover.
Physical rehabilitation can provide traumatic brain injury sufferers not only the means to restore muscular strength and balance but also core bodily functions like eye tracking, grip strength, and core support.
Neurological Treatments
Neurological treatments ensure that the brain sends messages through the nervous system properly. Your nervous system consists of your brain, spinal cord, and nerves, and they are responsible for controlling everything you do and how your body functions.
A concussion can significantly impact reflex times, nerve conduction velocity, and other areas related to a healthy nervous system.
Depending on your diagnosis, incorporating neurological treatments into your physical therapy plan can mean a different nutritional and diet plan, creating a comprehensive care routine, and using different types of physical therapy techniques to maximize your recovery potential.
Other Treatment Options
Chiropractic adjustments, massages, and nutrition management are the three main tools to treat concussions. But patients can also expect their provider to incorporate additional treatment options.
- Light exercises – This kind of therapy is used to increase blood flow to the brain and help it heal. Some of these exercises are used to determine how much a person can exert before they trigger their concussion symptoms.
- Mental health sessions – Meeting with a psychologist to discuss your experience with your concussion can be beneficial, especially for those who experienced the trauma of a car accident or find themselves now unable to play with the rest of their team for the rest of the season. An injury like this can take a toll on their mental health. A psychologist can help you navigate these difficult times and provide the tools to cope with your injury.
- Milestone testing – Milestones are a way to determine where someone is on their healing journey. It also allows your provider to make needed adjustments to make sure that everything is on track.
- Vestibular and Visual therapy – These exercises are designed to help concussion patients who are suffering from visual and dizziness or balance issues.
Chiropractic Adjustments
A trip to the chiropractor is not just to adjust your posture. Chiropractic sessions work to help reduce or eliminate different kinds of pain caused by injuries, medical conditions, or old age.
Clients who received a concussion through a sporting or car accident may find that the muscles in their necks and shoulders are tense and painful when they move. Chiropractic adjustments are a great way to help with stiff muscles, lack of mobility, and are otherwise tight or inflamed.
A common chiropractic technique used to address concussions is a trigger point massage. Trigger point massages target myofascial tissues that have become tight, rigid, or inflamed and help them relax and reduce pain in the affected and surrounding areas.
A chiropractor can help alleviate pain, increase mobility, and decompress the nerves causing pain.
Do I Need to Go to the Doctor for a Concussion?
The short answer is: yes, and anyone who believes that they may possibly have a concussion should see a doctor immediately and track their symptoms.
Always seek medical attention if you suspect that you may have a concussion or receive a hard blow to your head. A concussion is not apparent right away, and in some cases, it can take a few hours or days to show symptoms.
Delayed onsets happen more often than not. An injured person often does not see the onset of symptoms until days later and, at times, does not realize that they have a concussion at all.
In many cases, people believe that they can manage their symptoms on their own, creating a significant risk for additional complications to their injury.
Leaving a concussion untreated can lead to further complications that can prolong recovery. A Concussion is a Traumatic Brain Injury (also known as a TBI).
While a concussion is considered a mild type of TBI, the effects can be life-altering if left untreated or if treatment is delayed.
What Happens if I Do Not Get Medical Care After a Concussion?
Concussions should be diagnosed and treated carefully by a medical professional. If a person who has a concussion does not seek the medical treatment they need, they run the risk of having another concussion that will have greater symptoms like severe dizziness, blurry vision, and more. The duration of their symptoms can also be prolonged if they are injured and concussed again.
Seeking medical care if you possibly have a concussion is the best course of action. Refusing medical care can lead to unnecessary medical complications and significantly affect one’s quality of life.
Concussion Symptoms
Concussions are dangerous because they do not always appear immediately after getting hurt. When they do, they can create a combination of different symptoms that will require an immediate medical diagnosis.
A concussion cannot be diagnosed without proper testing by a medical professional.
Someone who is experiencing a concussion may find that they have a combination of these symptoms:
- Blurry vision.
- Confusion.
- Dizziness.
- Fatigue or drowsiness.
- Forgetfulness or memory loss.
- Headaches.
- Nausea.
- Ringing in the ears.
- Vomiting.
Other common signs of a concussion are subtle personality changes and the inability to concentrate or sleep. Additionally, others may notice when someone is concussed because they will show signs of delayed responses, slurred speech, a dazed appearance, or a temporary loss of consciousness.
Running Diagnostics for Concussions
Medical professionals use various imaging techniques to see the brain and any potential signs of injury. Depending on the severity of the injury and symptoms, medical staff may opt to complete a combination of image testing until they can clearly see how severe the concussion is.
Our providers at Optimum Health Rehab use these tools to diagnose and create a recovery plan that will work best for you. Given the results of the scans, they can choose which therapy forms they will benefit most from.
The three main types of diagnostic tools used to diagnose a concussion are:
- Computed Tomography Scans (CT scans).
- Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI).
- X-Ray Imaging.
A combination of these three tools is what is most commonly used to diagnose a concussion because brain injuries do not always show with some tests of imaging and scans.
Reducing the Risk of Lower Extremity Injuries
Having a concussion has long-term effects. In some cases, even with treatment, there is an increased risk of having a lower extremity injury, even after a year since being diagnosed with a concussion.
The brain is responsible for sending messages to the entire body, but when it is injured (TBI) or concussion), it may not be able to consistently send those messages correctly. Especially for athletes, wrong messages to the lower extremities can lead to new injuries.
Working with a physical therapist can help reduce the risk of lower extremity injuries by working with techniques that send the correct message to your lower limbs from your brain.
Visit One of Our Georgia Clinics for Concussion Treatment
Let Optimum Health Rehab Suwannee Help with Your Concussion
Receiving a concussion diagnosis can leave one with a lot of uncertainties and fear of ever fully recovering from their injury. But with the help of our experts at Optimum Health Rehab, full recovery is possible through our custom treatment plans created with each client in mind.
Find out how we can help you by giving us a call today. You can reach us at (678) 546-0550 or submit a form online to schedule your first appointment.