Post Concussion Syndrome
What is Post-Concussion Syndrome?
Post-concussion syndrome is a complex disorder which follows a concussion, and more specifically, the injury that caused a concussion. Post-concussion syndrome is characterized by a combination of symptoms that begin within seven to ten days of a concussion and last from a few weeks to a year or more.
While they often vary, symptoms of post-concussion syndrome include:
- Balance and coordination issues
- Nausea
- Blurred vision
- Loss of concentration and memory
- Excessive sensitivity to noise and light
- Altered sensation to the face
- Headaches
Most headaches that occur after a concussion are tension-type headaches resulting from a neck injury that happened at the same time as the head injury. In some cases, people experience behavior or emotional changes after a mild traumatic brain injury. They may also become more irritable, suspicious, argumentative or stubborn.
Who is Affected?
It is estimated that 300,000 people suffer concussions/post-concussion syndrome each year. However, because the condition is often undiagnosed since it cannot be detected via a CT scan or an MRI, by some estimates, the true number of cases in the United States may be as high as 3.6 million annually. While athletes in almost every sport are at greater risk for concussion/post-concussion syndrome, researchers have not determined why some people who’ve had concussions develop post-concussion symptoms, while others do not.
What are the Options for Treatment?
There is presently no traditional medical treatment for concussion or post-concussion syndrome other than rest.
The good news is that at the Magaziner Center for Wellness, we have the expertise to accurately diagnose and then fully remedy the underlying damage to the cranial nerve pathways originating from the brainstem that control vision, balance, heart rate and autonomic function. This trauma is what causes the lasting symptoms of post-concussion syndrome, so we pay particular attention to the head and brain. Our doctors focus on the region using prolotherapy and platelet rich plasma (PRP). Using these innovative, natural and non-surgical procedures, we have successfully healed the trauma and relieved our patients’ symptoms.
Prolotherapy (proliferative therapy), also known as Reconstructive Injection Therapy (RIT) or sclerotherapy, is a recognized orthopedic and holistic procedure that reconstructs joints, ligaments, and tendons weakened by trauma, like whiplash.
Prolotherapy stimulates the body’s healing mechanisms and restores normal function in injured joints, cartilage, muscles, tendons and ligaments. It works by placing precise injections into the damaged area to stimulate cytokines or cell signals, enabling the immune system to naturally repair the damage. Unlike conventional pain management practices which rely on anti-inflammatory drugs or cortisone injections – therapies that simply mask symptoms and may cause further harm by adding to depression, increased pain and side effects ranging from gastrointestinal bleeding and ulcers – prolotherapy truly cures the underlying problem and eliminates pain.
We also use Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) to treat post-concussion syndrome. In PRP therapy, we extract a small amount of a patient’s blood from which we develop a concentration of platelets and growth factors naturally found in the body that we then inject into the damaged area to promote healing. In addition to stimulating the body to heal itself, the platelet “graft” also forms a biologic scaffold that provides optimal curative conditions in the injured area. Many of our professional and highly competitive athletes use PRP to return to their sport when an injury does not heal, or time does not allow for an injury to sideline that athlete.
Lastly, at the Magaziner Center for Wellness, we use hyperbaric oxygen to treat patients with concussions and post-concussion syndrome. This therapy is used to greatly increase oxygen uptake to the brain, nervous system, skeletal muscle, and all body tissues.
We also recommend a targeted supplement program to reduce oxidative stress and improve mitochondrial function, two areas that are often adversely affected with a brain injury or post-concussion syndrome.