Concussion Questions: How Can I Heal? Who Can Help Me? What's Causing My Symptoms?
August 3, 2023
Functional Neurology (Chiropractic Neurology) can fix your brain. It's already equipped to heal; we just need to find the source that is disrupting optimal function and retrain it to work normally again.
Why would you see a Functional Neurologist or Chiropractic Neurologist for concussion rehab?
We are not just bones, or muscles, or nerves, or a brain alone, we are a combination of all interacting simultaneously. Functional Neurologists ensure that the individual components are healthy and their connections that coordinate healthy function. Because, if any part is out of sync with the rest, we experience symptoms. After concussion, this synchrony of function is impaired and patients can no longer perform day to day life as they once did.
Why would a chiropractor also be a neurologist and working with concussions?
It was a natural progression for me. The brain sits on top of your spine and we send messages from our brain to our body through our spine to coordinate all function. Therefore, when we injure our head, we often injure our spine, specifically the neck. This can cause pain the neck or base of the skull, headaches, balance, spatial orientation changes, dizziness, and vertigo. Someone who is equipped for both is very important in many concussion scenarios.
Why are you interested in neurology?
My interest is in helping people, and the brain is the ultimate controlling system of the body, so to fully help people, I wanted to learn more and become equipped in how the brain and body can heal together. The brain has unlimited potential for growth and healing, whether physical, mental, or learning. And, it requires me to always be learning, which I love. I became a Chiropractor because of my interest in neurology, but I was very interested in body performance too. The brain and the body need each other to function, so learning about both seemed logical.
Why did you get into concussion work?
I was working in neurology, specifically in migraines, and started to notice many patients with migraines had vertigo and dizziness components, but there were no practitioners around to help, so I decided to learn more. Then, I started to see these symptoms of migraine, vertigo, dizziness, headaches coming in due to head injuries, or concussion, so I decided to learn more about that and pursue more training in these areas.
Do you have additional training on top of your neurology degree in the field of concussion?
Yes, I have two fellowships, one in mild traumatic brain injury, or concussion, the other in vestibular rehabilitation, or dizziness and vertigo which is common after concussion.
Concussion and post-concussion syndrome are functional conditions.
What does function in the brain mean?
Function really equates to communication and processing. How quickly can the brain perform a task? Whether processing emotion, light, sound, pain, movement, busy environments, driving, scrolling, or reading.
Why does the brain get tired so quickly after concussion?
The brain is working so hard to maintain basic functions and compensate for communication errors in the brain, so we fatigue quickly and can’t handle a lot of stimulation. This results in overall fatigue in the body as well.
How can Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy help heal my concussion?
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) increases plasma oxygen to our brain, allowing it to reach injured areas, despite how well we are circulating blood. IT also increases the rate of neuroplasticity by activating growth hormones that improve synapse (signaling) creation in our brain. Additionally, increasing stem cells, new blood vessel formation, reducing neuro-inflammation, improving detoxification, increasing cerebrospinal fluid flow, and improving immune function are all ways that HBOT can help provide the fuel the brain needs to heal.
What are some of the most common symptoms people have that you’re able to help with through functional neurology rehab at your office?
-dizziness or vertigo
-light headedness, often upon standing
-headaches or migraines
-light and sound sensitivity
-brain fog
-blurry/double vision
-memory changes and slow processing
-driving issues
-heart rate and BP changes
-fatigue
-emotional changes
-digestive changes
-urinary frequency or dribbling
What treatments do you offer to fix concussion?
Every concussion is different, so we perform a combination of very specialized treatments that are unique for the individuals specific brain needs through a neuroplasticity model. This usually includes a combination of tilt table therapy, vestibular rehab, eye movement therapies, physical therapy, chiropractic, and hyperbaric oxygen therapy. The key is the combination that includes treatment to resolve all parts of the injury, brain and body.
How are you able to figure out where the problem is?
-We use advanced brain technologies in our office such as video-oculography that use infrared cameras and computer system to evaluate eye movements related to brain function
-we use specialized balance testing that determines how well your brain can spatially orient yourself, particularly important in dizziness and vertigo.
-we perform tilt table testing to look at blood flow changes in the brain that are super common after concussion and are related to dizziness, light headedness, brain fog, headaches and migraines
-we test neck joint and muscle function that is often injured when we hit our heads, since our brain sits on top of our spine.
There’s never just one area involved with a concussion, especially if not treated early, other regions become involved and compensations occur that result in symptoms.
What causes symptoms of post-concussive syndrome?
Symptoms after concussion initially occur because of concussive force and inflammation, but continued problems occur because of weakened connections and misfiring of signaling in the brain, resulting in symptoms such as dizziness, headaches, blurry vision, double vision, eye tracking issues, light and sound sensitivity, and more. Additionally, compensations that occur also cause symptoms. The extra energy that is used to maintain this broken communication system causes symptoms in a tertiary way, often impacting sleep, depleting emotional energy, motivation, empathy, relationships, and more.
What causes many of the symptoms after concussion?
-poor communication between the brain and the body. Specifically the eyes, cardiovascular system, bowel/bladder, balance areas, and pain regions
You talk a lot about blood flow to the brain, what’s happening there?
After concussion, we lose the ability to control heart rate and blood pressure adequately, resulting in poor blood return to our brain when we stand up quickly, resulting in dizziness and light headedness. This also occurs when we use our brain in multi-tasking situations, such as driving, busy environments, work, social situations.
It often feels like there's a lot of problems in your brain because of the array of symptoms you're experiencing
All of the symptoms you're experiencing are often the result of a few core regions that are impacting multiple areas of the brain and body due to our connective design. Functional Neurologists locate these sources and treat them, eliminating all symptoms and returning you to normal function.
What is Neuroplasticity?
It is the ability for your brain to change. It occurs when the connections between our brain cells (neurons) change, whether good or bad, causing communication to either improve or decline. We're born with 100 billion brain cells, we never get more, but we do create more connections between them, which occurs when we learn, experience something new, or exprience injury such as concussion (mild traumatic brain injury).
We can use Neuroplasticity to reshape our brain
Since our brain can change, we can reform its connections through specialized treatments that improve signaling in the brain along new pathways, or strenthen existing ones. This increased signaling in the brain makes our brain cells healthier, providing more oxygen and nutrients needed for optimal function.
Functional Neurology (Chiropractic Neurology) can fix your brain. It's already equipped to heal, we just need to find the source that is disrupting optimal function and teach it how to work normally again.
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