Post Concussion Syndrome

Dorothy Gronwall, a concussion specialist wrote in Cumulative and Persisting Effects of Concussion on Attention and Cognition, “After MHI (mild head injury), patients have difficulty in all areas that require them to analyze more items of information than they can handle simultaneously. They present as slow because it takes longer for smaller than normal chunks of information to be processed. They present as distractible because they do not have the spare capacity to monitor irrelevant stimuli at the same time as they are attending to the relevant stimulus. They present as forgetful because while they are concentrating on point A, they do not have the processing space to think about point B simultaneously. They present as inattentive because when the amount of information that they are given exceeds their capacities, they cannot take it all in.” All of these symptoms are permanent effects that a person can have after having only mild head injury. It is clear that it is important to take care of the injuries the correct

A concussion can cause an individual to experience physical, mental and emotional complications, some of which may include:

A concussion is defined as “a type of traumatic brain injury—or TBI—caused by a bump, blow, or jolt to the head or by a hit to the body that causes the head and brain to move rapidly back and forth. This sudden movement can cause the brain to bounce around or twist in the skull, creating chemical changes in the brain and sometimes stretching and damaging brain cells”. A concussion is considered a mild form of a traumatic brain injury; however, it can still cause serious short and long-term complications and risks; especially because of the more vulnerable brain of a pediatric victim. Children are at a higher risk for concussions and have a higher risk of more devastating effects because of the developing brain. Sports related concussions are

Health professionals will often interchange between the two terms, concussion and mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), when discussing this health condition (Halstead, Walter, Council on Sports, & Fitness, 2010). A concussion is a mild traumatic brain injury resulting from a traumatic event which causes the affected individual to experience temporary neurological deficits, these are a result of “biomechanical forces” that have reached the head taking effect on the brain (Jordan, 2013; Paul McCrory et al., 2009; Silver, McAllister, & Yudofsky, 2011). This type of injury usually presents with multiple post concussive symptoms, although in some cases these symptoms do not present themselves until later (Paul McCrory et al., 2009), in which can result in the concussion going unnoticed.

The frontal cortex is the repository of the highest order cognitive functions. Being at the front of the head, it is susceptible to damage in frontal collisions, as it endures the highest-force portion of the trauma prior to dissipation (Stein, Alvarez, & McKee, 2015). Repeated concussion of the brain kills neurons, which may be an attempt by the brain to compensate for the injury or heal (Borich, 2013). Regardless, killing off large numbers of neurons is degeneration of the brain, and persistent concussion that kills many neurons impedes core higher order brain functions. Long-term brain damage from concussion has diverse symptoms that include convulsions, seizures, depression, cognitive degradation/impairment, and psychosis (Stein, Alvarez, & McKee, 2015).

Concussion disrupts different elements of an individual’s higher-order of intelligence . Impairment includes a person struggling with memorization, paying attention, critical thinking, learning, and reasoning skills. If the individual 's attention is impaired, he/she finds it hard to stay focused while at sports, work or any activity, they experience brain fog or abnormal brain waves. Frequent concussions for an extended period may make the individual have a difficult time learning new skills and information as it disrupts the memory. Concussed individuals have difficulties with dysphoric moods and

Sport-related concussions have gained a lot of attention in recent years due to the extensive research of the severity of these traumatic brain injuries and their long-term effects. Due to the increased attention, neuropsychological testing for the assessment and management of sport-related concussions has respectively grown as well. Assessments of sport-related concussions often incorporate a multifaceted approach in the diagnosis and tracking of concussions including many different aspects such as symptoms, neurocognitive function, and balance. One of the most sensitive indicative characteristics of neurocognitive change following a concussion, as well as one of the most common sequelae of concussion is reaction time (1). There has been shown to be a 13.5% prolongation of reaction time in a clinical setting when tested within 72 hours of a sport concussion compared to the baseline (1). Correspondingly, one of the most indicative aspects of the neurocognitive assessment and has been shown to have prognostic value in predicting recovery time is a clinical reaction time test (2) This paper will explore the reaction time in its physiology in the nervous system and the effects concussions have on these pathways, methodology and reliability of the clinical test, as well as implications of dominant vs. non-dominant hand in reaction time.

During the study, researchers tested 63 men aging from 18 to 28. The original idea was to compare men who had been diagnosed with a concussion to those who haven’t been diagnosed. After questioning all of the participants about their concussion history and other head related injuries, they discovered that many of them had experienced concussions without being diagnosed. 31 out of the 63 tested had experienced a concussion or the symptoms of the concussions prior to the test. A result from the questions suggests that many people lack knowledge of concussions and the symptoms. To investigate their attention deficits, the researchers used a “MMN” test, which involves showing the individual a flashing letter M on a screen. When the M changes to an N, your brain activity should increase indicating that the person is focusing. The researchers saw spikes in brain activity for those who had never experienced a concussion, but they did not see a spike in the concussion group. Which suggests that concussions affected the individuals’ attention abilities. Concluding, we can all see that concussion affect memory and concentration

Post-concussion syndrome is a complex disorder with symptoms can consist of headaches, dizziness, fatigue, and irritability that can last as little as a week and up to months after a head injury. The causes can be a traumatic blow to the head or neck injuries in which the patient does not have to lose consciousness. The effect of being injured can do permanent damaged to the brain and nervous system. Dealing with Post-concussion syndrome not only can have a physical effect, but a psychological one as well (Mayo clinic page 2).

People might think a concussion is only short term, and that the person who received it can go back to their sport once they are deemed ready by medical professionals, however, this is not the case. The side effects of a concussion can last for years, and if the player is not healed completely, it increases the chances of that person sustaining a new concussion.Therefore, athletes should be required to stop playing their sport for a certain amount of time, even after they stop showing symptoms of a concussion.

The diagnosis and management of concussion is challenging due to often times the physical and cognitive examinations being normal and additional tests are also commonly normal. Assessing cognitive function by asking questions of orientation have inadequate sensitivity to detect mild TBI after head injury.

The main objective of this study was to identify the extent to which the number of concussions influenced the development of chronic neurological disorders among retired athletes. According to Decq and colleagues (2014), professional athletes are likely to sustain various types of head injuries throughout the course of their careers, depending on the particular sport, and such injuries may have substantial and critical consequences for the individual in the future, including chronic headaches or migraines, mild to severe cognitive disorders, depressive disorders, and neurogenerative diseases. The researchers essentially hypothesized that players with a higher number of concussions would suffer from more cognitive and neurological dysfunction.

The strengths of the study rested in the recruitment of the control subjects and the fact that the researchers collected pre-injury health and mental health data. The control subjects were retained by advertisement and paired with the mTBI subjects by correlated gender, age (plus or minus 2 years), and level of educational achievement. All subjects participated in telephone screening which eliminated subjects with previous head trauma or diseases, and a MRI to exclude subjects with unknown brain lesions. The results showed significant differences between the control subjects and the mTBI subjects in cognitive functioning, with episodic memory being the most significant followed by working memory and attention (Konrad et al 2010). All subjects took the following battery neuropsychological and psychiatric tests. 1. German Version of the Auditory Verbal Learning Test (AVLT; Rey, 1964; Helmstaedter et al. 1996 as cited by Konrad et al 2010). 2. German Version of Tests for Attentional Performance (TAP; Zimmermann & Fimm, 1992 as cited by Konrad et al 2010). 3. Trail Making Test Parts A and B (TMT-A and TMT-B; Reitan, 1958; Spreen & Strauss, 1998 as cited by Konrad et al 2010). 4. A

In 2016, more than 5 million adults over the age of 65 were affected with symptoms of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Of that 5 million, 200,000 are under the age 65. 3.3 million were women [fig.1]. However, with life expectancy surpassing the age of 79, 1 researchers have begun to focus more on providing a variety of treatments to help improve the quality of life in the geriatric population. One treatment is diet modifications.1-6 Commonalities seen among all reviewed diet changes based studies were the Mediterranean Diet, Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension better known as DASH, and Mediterranean-DASH diet intervention for neurodegenerative delay (MIND).2-6 The Mediterranean diet and DASH were utilized and had been proven to have significant effects at preventing and treating cardiovascular disease (pre and post-myocardial infarction, CVD), hypertension (HT), and stroke. In addition, during those CVD studies, a noticeable amount of patients improved cognitive function. Much research has been done to answer why and what specifically ignited cognitive improvements. As with the MIND diet, a diet formed using common foods from the Mediterranean and DASH diet, because of the positive effects on cognitive memory. It is proposed that this research paper will offer a perspective on the findings of the

And as for me I used to do is drink Fresh calamansi juice it help in digestion and reducing tension and stress in the brain that sometimes can be the cause of stroke.