Advancing Concussion Care

The public is becoming increasingly aware of the serious risks that concussions pose. At the same time, researchers and concussion specialists are learning just how complex mTBIs can be, as well as how greatly they can impact long term health. It’s clear that we need further research, better tools, and more integrated treatment approaches to provide advanced concussion care for the millions of people who suffer them each year.

A Multi-Disciplinary Approach

Concussion patients don’t have a lot of tools or services offered to them in the public sector. Which is why at Vertex Concussion, we want to make sure that any services that are needed can be accessed whenever they are needed. Concussions are complex, and every case is unique, so we need to incorporate expertise and a network of specialists in every domain of care that’s relevant.

Our goal has been to build up a complete rehab team, so we can treat every aspect of concussions based on what the latest research tells us is necessary. This is critical, because too often patients only receive proper therapy for one aspect of their condition, but it’s not enough. Concussion management is not just one scope, it’s a whole spectrum where everything needs to be addressed.

In particular, visual, vestibular and proprioception systems all have to work together. If any of these systems are off, then they’re going to cause problems at a wider level. You need every piece of the puzzle back in place to avoid recovery being prolonged.

We also go beyond rehabilitation by covering prevention and education. This includes providing courses to athletes, teams, schools and the general population. When a brain trauma happens, it's important for people to know what to do.

At the Outset of Care

Our first evaluation with a patient involves reviewing their medical history to check for predisposing factors, understanding the mechanism of injury, and then assessment of the vestibular, visual and motor functions, as well as the head and neck. Any major problems that could hinder the overall rehab process are prioritized at the outset, for correction with an appropriate specialist.

Throughout the course of therapy we give guidance on daily activities to help patients avoid chronic fatigue, yet still get enough safe activity to help with recovery. For example, for an athlete this could mean prescribing light aerobic exercise, and making sure they don’t attempt any sports until we know they are ready.

In and out of the clinic, knowing the right timing for when and when not to progress therapy is essential. If therapy is progressed too quickly it can bring back symptoms and cause setbacks. For example, we’ve seen people coming in from other treatments and activities that were too advanced, and as a result they struggled with post-concussion symptoms as their condition became chronic.

The Role of Vision

A major factor in concussion rehabilitation is vision, which can play a huge role in both symptoms and recovery. Vision represents around 70-80% of all our sensory processing, and with mTBIs, any excess visual stimulation can cause peripheral vision to shut down. This effect is known as ‘tunnel vision’, which can provoke all kinds of post-concussion symptoms. When this happens, patients tend to be afraid of things that stimulate their peripheral vision, such as being in public areas, so they often shut down and isolate themselves off in their homes.

What we do at the beginning of therapy is gently start to teach patients to soften and relax their gaze. Usually this is just some simple exercises, such as relearning how to be aware of their environment, such as the room around them, but without directly looking at objects. From there we need to move onto more advanced forms of therapy.

Discovering Neuro-Technologies

We’re very keen at Vertex Concussion on developing the whole aspect of vision therapy. My goal over the past year has been to research and discover all the potential therapies we can offer patients. This winter I went to a concussion course and was introduced to new technologies on the market. These can play a central role in helping with the recovery process at various stages, and it’s likely there will be many more on the market in coming years.

We have a lot of subjective assessments in concussion therapy, but having tools which can objectively tell where a patient is, is great for the patient because they get to see and understand how they are doing. In some cases it offers us a chance to provide an effective at-home therapy program, which we can monitor remotely.

Broader Roles

The goals of using training technologies can include improving attention, concentration and focus, which are mental abilities important for most populations. In particular, it’s great to be able to help with athletic performance, where the mental aspects of sports are just as important as the physical aspects, and in fact overlap.

When it comes to aging populations, vision and vestibular systems naturally deteriorate as we get older, which is something we see in our clinic.  Here, exercises using training technologies can be a nice way to stimulate neuroplasticity, to try to help older patients retain their independence for as long as possible. This can also include preventing risk of injury, because if vision and balance is improved, older people are less likely to a fall and get serious injuries like fractures.

Lastly for educational needs, working on cognitive abilities can be useful for kids, teenagers and academics, to help them sustain their concentration and focus for longer periods of time. It would be ideal to see more multi-functional training tools for concussion come to market, so we that can go beyond actual therapy, and help with life-based skills after recovery.

Interested in learning more about the risks of head injuries? Then also check out this blog.

3 Surprising Effects of Concussions

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