Kids and Concussion: Functional Neurology
August 25, 2023
It's important for adults to know and recognize concussive symptoms in children because they often don't know how to relay these to us. Reading difficutlies, school work declining, social and behavioral changes can be misinterpreted and not linked to head injury. Kids and young adults often experience concussions from sports, but also can occur with car or bike accidents, falls, rough play, or anything that results in head injury. Concussions affect the way the brain works in a time when their brain is developing at a rapid rate. I believe It’s important to address these for younger individuals so that we can ensure their brains develop appropriately to give them the best chance at life.
Symptoms may be more subtle in kids as they don't know how to explain what they are feeling. Common symptoms include: headaches, difficulty with school work, difficulty reading, eye tracking issues, eye strain, light and sound sensitivity, visual impairment, focus issues, dizziness, fatigue, constipation, elevated heart rate, mood changes, enlarged pupil, and changes in social patterns and behavior can all be indicators.
Objectively you may observe convergence insufficiency or spasm, enlarged pupil, eye tracking issues, or incoordination. An at home check you may perform is to ask them to follow your thumb at a distance of 18-24" from their nose. Perform an H-pattern and see if their eyes are jerky or they experience strain. Follow up by asking them to follow your thumb as you bring it towards their nose (stop at 2-3" away from nose) and then retract your thumb. If the eyes do not appear symmetrical, or you notice a lag, or the eyes spasm and appear jerky, then there may be a concussion present. Also ask them to lay down for 10 seconds then ask them to stand up quickly, if there is light headedness, imbalance, head pressure, or dizzy feeling when they stand up there may be a concussion present. The absence or presence of any of these tests does not confirm a concussion, but if you do see these, please get them checked.
It’s not so much the brain cells (neurons) that are injured during a concussion, but more the connections between them that become disconnected in certain areas of the brain. Functional neurologists are highly trained in locating these disconnections and develop specific treatments to reconnect the brain through Neuroplasticity rehabilitation. Every brain is different, so every treatment is different. Our specificity is one of the major reasons for our high success rate. And, what’s great is that for most people, the results are permanent. Symptoms typically don't return because we’re treating the source(s) of the concussive injury and repairing them completely, not covering up symptoms.
Why would a chiropractor also be a functional neurologist? The spine and the brain are inseparable, so if we want to treat either at the highest potential, we must understand both and how they interact with one another. The brain sits on the spine and during head injuries, our neck is often injured. The interaction between the brain and the spine is essential for human function, and when there's an interruption in either, symptoms and dysfunction occurs. Not only are we equipped to restore spinal injuries, but our post-doctoral degrees in neurology, and fellowships in concussion diagnosis and rehabilitation equip us to restore brain function, reconnecting the head and body. Our functional neurology team of doctors, occupational therapists, hyperbaric oxygen specialists, and musculoskeletal specialists work together to fully repair your child's concussion injury.
I theorize that many maladies we experience as adults may be linked to compensations in our brain from old concussions. Not in every case, but over the past decade of concussion work I've seen many cases where depression, anxiety, migraines, and other "lifelong" symptoms have dissippated after we resolve the symptoms of their most recent concussion. When we treat the brain, we're not only treating the recent concussion, we're treating previous concussions that have accumulated over the years. We don't know the difference between new and old, we can only recognize dysfunction. Whether your child has experienced a concussion, or you're not sure if their symptoms may be related to a previous head injury, please schedule an evaluation and help us do our part to prevent future problems for your child at Portland Chiropractic Neurology, located in Portland, Maine by calling 207-699-5600 or emailing info@portchiro.com.
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