Are you feeling off balance after getting a bump on the head while playing hockey? According to the Sport Information Resource Center (SIRC), women often experience concussions differently than men, including a longer recovery time and worse symptoms. What is a concussion, what causes it and what are the symptoms?
Note: Sheddon’s therapists from the Oakville and Burlington Physio Clinics are prepared and licensed to test you and your team for concussions and recommend the proper recovery.
What is a concussion?
Brain Injury Canada, formerly the Brain Injury Association of Canada, defines concussion as a form of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) but highlights that the term mild does not lessen the impact a concussion can have on your daily activities and health. Any head injury should always be taken seriously. The Canadian Guideline on Concussion in Sport recommends that anyone with a suspected concussion must obtain immediate medical attention from a nurse practitioner or physician.
While most people recover from a concussion within a month, symptoms might resolve more slowly in some cases or persist longer than expected. Besides immediate attention, patients must be given the correct guidance and education regarding concussions and advice on the treatment required.
Causes of a concussion?
As concussion is a mild form of traumatic brain injury (TMI), the cause would be similar. A traumatic brain injury (TMI) is caused by something from outside the body and could be temporary, like a concussion, or more long-term and serious. Traumatic brain injury causes include:
- Sports injuries
All sports could cause traumatic brain injuries, including hockey, boxing, soccer, horseracing and other extreme or high-impact sports.
- Vehicle-related accidents
It could be collisions involving cars, all-terrain vehicles, motorcycles, or bicycles, and include the pedestrians involved in such accidents.
- Combat injuries
Explosive blasts, shrapnel or debris, penetrating wounds, bodily collisions with objects after a blast and falls.
- Falls
Falls from the bath, the bed, a ladder or down the stairs is the most common cause of traumatic brain injury. It is also more prevalent in young children and older adults.
- Violence
Violence includes domestic violence, child abuse, gunshot wounds, other types of assault and shaken baby syndrome.
Symptoms of a concussion
There are several symptoms that can occur after a physical injury, although most people experience only some of them. If you are experiencing any of these symptoms, seek medical attention.
- Dizziness and balance problems
- Ringing in the ears
- Nausea
- Fatigue
- Vision changes
- Sensitivity to noise or light
- Sleep disturbance
- Seizures
- Difficulty focusing and remembering
- Slower information processing
- Difficulty making plans or a decision
- Problems with taste and smell
- Behavioral changes such as impulsivity, anxiety, irritability, aggression, or depression.
When you are feeling off balance post concussion, your treatment would most likely include vestibular rehabilitation. Let’s discuss how concussions are assessed and treated, including more detail about vestibular rehabilitation.
Assessment and treatment of concussions involves a multi-faceted approach in which many systems are examined and treated. An important area to address post concussion is the vestibular system, which plays an essential role in balance, coordinating movement and spatial orientation. However, it doesn’t work entirely alone. It interacts with the visual system and proprioceptive receptors in muscles and joints, which together send messages to the brain to help achieve and maintain balance and stability as we move through daily activities. Following a concussion there can be direct/indirect damage to any of the systems, which may result in the person feeling off balance, dizzy, nausea, spinning, lightheaded or disorientated.
Research has suggested that anywhere from 23-81% of patients will experience one or more of the above symptoms post concussion. Furthermore, these symptoms may be a risk factor for prolonged recovery and can persist in 10-30% of patients. The most common complaint related to dizziness following a concussion is feeling “off balance.” These symptoms are perfectly normal post concussion and can be treated with vestibular rehabilitation.
Vestibular rehabilitation is a key management technique for getting concussed patients back to feeling normal. At Sheddon Physiotherapy and Sports Clinic (SPSC), concussed patients suffering from dizziness and imbalance are thoroughly assessed in order to determine which aspect of the vestibular system is affected. Due to the complexity of the balance system, assessment also includes the visual system (read our past blog here regarding visual rehabilitation), proprioceptive receptors, as well as the integration of all three systems.
From the assessment, patients will be given a treatment approach and exercise program tailored to their individual needs. Exercises may include simple eye-head coordination exercises, visual rehab, static and dynamic balance, ambulation tasks and symptom habituation exercises. A key feature with these exercises is that patients may often feel worse before they feel better, which is counter-intuitive to why they are seeking your help.
In most cases, the brain has to learn to compensate in order for your symptoms to improve. Therefore, if you avoid the activities that make you dizzy, you generally will not get better. Having said that, more isn’t better either. Your assessment findings will help your therapist determine how much and how often you should be doing your exercises. Everyone is different and your program will progress as your symptoms improve.
If you have suffered a concussion and can’t shake the feeling of dizziness and feeling off balance, contact one of the therapists at SPSC in order to assess and treat these symptoms. If you haven’t suffered a concussion, but have any of the above symptoms, vestibular rehabiliation can also work for you (it’s not just for concussed patients). Read our past blog here on living with dizziness.
For more info, contact Sheddon Physiotherapy and Sports Clinic at 905-849-4576.
We are located only 6 min East of Oakville Place and 4 min West of Canlan Ice Sports.
The Burlington physio clinic is located only 8 min north-east of LaSalle Park and 10 min north of Burlington Golf & Country Club, on Plains Rd East.