Are you looking for a non-invasive way to relieve the symptoms and side effects of concussions? Osteopathy can help you reduce your symptoms and support brain and whole-body healing. It can often be done in conjunction with other healthcare practitioners and therapies.
In this article, I’ll describe common concussion symptoms and discuss the long-term effects of these head injuries. I’ll also explain how Osteopathic treatments and health support can help accelerate healing, so you can return to your everyday life or sports activity as soon as it is safely possible.
Important note: If you believe you have a concussion or are having severe side effects after receiving a hard blow or hit to the head, please call your primary care doctor or visit the emergency room for diagnosis and emergency care if required.
What are concussions?
A concussion is a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) that occurs after a significant bump or hit to your head. The most immediate side effects of a concussion include headaches, disorientation, blurred vision, and cognitive confusion.
However, some symptoms do not appear right away, making concussion not always immediately diagnosable at the scene. If you’re with somebody who experiences a severe bump to the head, watch them carefully for several hours or days to ensure that additional concussion symptoms do not appear.
Concussion symptoms usually resolve within a few days to a few weeks. However, more severe concussions can cause damaging, long-term side effects that require more advanced health support. An Osteopath can help you find relief from concussion side effects today and help you prevent long-term damage and ongoing, related side effects.
Long-term effects of concussions
The symptoms of a concussion can last days, weeks, or even months without treatment. Here are a few common long-term effects of concussions:
- Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE): CTE often develops after repeated head traumas. CTE symptoms include memory loss and confusion, aggression and other mood disorders, and increasing cognitive difficulty.
- Post-Concussion Syndrome (PCS): Concussion sufferers who experience symptoms for months or years have what is called PCS. Common symptoms included in PCS include ongoing headaches, dizziness, trouble concentrating, memory issues, and moodiness.
- Cognitive Decline: Repeated concussions have a severe impact on your brain function. This can affect memory, concentration, and decision-making skills. If not treated, this cognitive decline could lead to other more serious mental disorders.
- Mood disorders (Anxiety and depression): The physical and emotional stress concussion sufferers experience can often affect their mood, causing anxiety and depression.
- Physical Injuries and Side Effects: Any concussion side effect not treated can have long-term effects on your mind and body. This means those who experience a concussion should be mindful of and get treatment for headaches and migraines, issues with balance, and vision difficulties, to name a few.
- Trouble sleeping: The stress of a concussion and its side effects can affect your ability to get a good quality sleep. If other symptoms are not addressed, and you don’t get enough sleep for weeks or months (or more), you may experience low energy, reduced immunity, and additional cognitive struggles.
How Osteopathy can prevent long-term concussion effects
Osteopathy is a holistic practice that not only helps patients find relief from concussion symptoms but also prevents the physical, emotional, and psychological long-term side effects. Here are five ways seeing your Osteopath can help you prevent these long-term impacts on your health:
- Aiding in brain recovery: Cranial osteopathy is a technique used by Osteopaths to help heal concussions. Through this technique, your Osteopath manipulates your skull and surrounding tissues. These techniques reduce tension in your brain, improve circulation throughout your skull, reduce inflammation, and promote brain healing.
- Improving your circulation: Proper blood and lymphatic flow can aid in healing and benefit your overall health. After a concussion, your Osteopath helps to improve your blood flow and lymphatic drainage to reduce brain inflammation.
- Restoring nervous system balance: When your nervous system is unbalanced, you feel additional physical and emotional stress. An Osteopath can help you regulate your nervous system, rebalance it, and alleviate symptoms like dizziness or other cognitive struggles you may experience.
- Correcting your posture: A common side effect of a concussion is feeling unbalanced. This imbalance could be due to neck tension or other musculoskeletal issues from the accident. Concussion sufferers often report fewer headaches and feel more physically balanced after their Osteopath relieves their neck and spine tension, an re-aligns their bodily systems.
- General, holistic well-being: Osteopathy is designed to holistically balance your mind and body (especially your musculoskeletal system). Your Osteopath can work on other areas of the body that may contribute to your symptoms. This is to promote overall mind and body wellness and healing.
Finding a Vancouver Osteopath for concussions
Using Osteopathy to treat symptoms of a concussion can often be done while you’re seeing other practitioners for concussion symptoms or other health and wellness concerns. Osteopathic techniques complement other therapies and medical treatments. Discuss your desire for Osteopathic treatments with other healthcare practitioners you’re currently seeing for your concussion healing and symptoms.
At Thuja Wellness, I can help you find relief from the short-term and long-term effects of concussions. Many concussion patients recover fully, with minimal medical intervention, within a few weeks. However, if you’re still experiencing symptoms several weeks after the accident, it’s important to talk to your healthcare team and your Osteopath about treatment options to avoid any damaging long-term effects of your injury.
If you’re looking for relief from concussion symptoms, book an appointment with me at Thuja Wellness today.
