What Is A Concussion?

This is the question that has been research and studied for centuries with very little to show for it — until recently. if you research it today, very few places have an answer to this important question. While it is a “serious head trauma,” that doesn’t quite help us to understand the best method for helping the brain to heal.

As of the recent 5-10 years, however, researchers have begun to make big advances in understanding more specifically what happens when someone experiences a concussion. If we understand what happens during a concussion neurologically and chemically, we can address it quicker, more effectively, and ultimately begin to allow the brain to heal from it as soon as possible.

Concussions occur anytime the brain and head undergo a serious head trauma or “traumatic brain injury.” While it can happen with anyone, it is most common in athletes. Its estimated that anywhere from 5-10% of athletes will undergo a concussion injury sometime in their athletic adventures. This may not seem like a lot until you realize for every 40 football players on a football team, at least 2-4 of them will have undergone a serious brain injury (concussion) sometime in their career — that’s a lot!

Concussion Signs & Symptoms

If you experience any of these signs and symptoms, its crucial to be assessed by a qualified healthcare professional as soon as possible.

• Headaches
• Constant Head Pressure
• Confusion
• Concentration Problems
• Poor Memory
• Poor Balance / Dizziness
• Nausea / Vomiting
• Vision Problems
• Brain Fog
• Sensitive to Light or Sounds

Typical Concussion Recovery

Most concussion symptoms resolve within 14-21 days, however, its very rare that people’s brain health are 100% recovered by then. In fact, if the recovery process does not deal with the very important things discussed a little later here, most people will experience long-term problems even after most symptoms resolve. Problems like headaches, poor concentration, poor memory, poor spatial awareness, or “just not feeling 100%.”

As we discuss all the time, most injuries can heal 100% within 3-5 days with the right treatment. It’s no different with concussions IF you have the proper treatment and support. Let me explain how below.

Fully Recover From A Concussion (In Record Time)

What Really Happens During A Concussion?

It use to be thought that during a concussion injury, the brain hits up against the skull very aggressively resulting in bruising and damage at the site of impact. This was the common understanding for years because they didn’t know of any other mechanisms that made sense.

Eventually, we learned that (1) the cerebrospinal fluid (brain fluid) was so protective that the impact against the skull really didn’t do much damage at all. Next, (2) we learned that a lot of damage occurred to the brain, not necessarily because it “impacts” against the skull, but because the nerves in the brain undergo so much whiplash/sheering that the axons themselves become damaged. This theory holds much more water than the former.

While the sheering stress against the axons of the nerves causes quite a bit of strain and damage to the nerves, the true problem is what happens after the fact. After the sheering stress on nerves, the injured nerves begin to chemically release large stores of calcium and glutamic acid. These extremely excitatory chemicals result in massive amounts of inflammation.

So while the physical damage to the axons occurs, the major cause of problems, long-term symptoms, and poor brain function is inflammation.

Brain Inflammation

This is one of the 2 major keys when it comes to recovering from a concussion fully and in record time. Traumatic brain injuries like concussions produce massive amounts of inflammation in the brain. The best way to address this is through anti-inflammatory nutrients. No, i’m not talking about NSAIDS and other anti-inflammatory medications. While that may help the symptoms momentarily, your brain is not “ibuprofen deficient.”

It may, however, be deficient in natural anti-inflammatory nutrients (and/or cofactors), or antioxidants. In our office we check anywhere from 5-30+ different nutrients that may be needed to give the body everything it needs to fight inflammation and promote the healing process. Typically, in these articles, I will mention a few examples of nutrients we commonly find patients need in our office. However, with brain inflammation, it varies for every single patient. To give you an idea of what people have needed in the past, here’s a few: a quality fish oil, B6 (P5P), magnesium, zinc, vitamin A, and vitamin D.

In order for the brain to effectively decrease inflammation in unbelievable time, you need to address the brain inflammation. In our office we use an incredible technique called Systems Health Care to test the body and find exactly what it needs. When you give the body exactly what it needs, it heals, and it heals quicker than we have ever thought possible.

Neurological Imbalance

The 2nd major key to allowing the brain to heal after a concussion is to rebalance the nervous system. Between the internal brain stress and inflammation, and the trauma to the skull and neck, the nervous system takes a bit hit from a functional perspective. Things like proprioception, spatial awareness, and overall nervous system functioning is not the same after traumatic brain injuries.

To address this, fascial therapies are a huge game-changer. By addressing the right spots, you can restore overall function to the nervous system, decrease inflammation, and allow the brain to heal quicker. We use Systems Health Care for this as well — there’s no better technique in the world for nervous system health.

We also use certain exercises for proper brain functioning. If one of the sides of the brain (lobes) has become less activated due to the injury or subsequent inflammation, it’s essential to reactivate that specific side of the brain. We use very specific exercises for the brain depending on what side needs to be stimulated. While its generally recommended that people with concussions simply rest, if there is an imbalance in activation, stimulating it via proper exercises will allow it to heal and improve function way faster than just resting it. The very specific exercises that you do, however, are the key.

Lastly, if there is not a problem with either lobe of the brain, but rather the left and right lobe are not functioning well together, this can be helped via nutrition using vitamin A, vitamin D, or copper, for example.

Suffering From A Concussion Injury?

“Balance the brain and brain inflammation and allow the brain to heal.”

At Freedom Health and Wellness, we address all of these things and more through a personalized and functional approach. We help people with chronic diseases and illnesses regain their health by getting to the source of their health concerns.