Post Concussion Syndrome: Can Chiropractic Help?

Most concussions will heal withing 7-10 days.  Post Concussion syndrome is when symptoms of concussion last longer than 4-12 weeks.  It is estimated that about 10-15% of those who suffer a concussion will experience post concussion syndrome.  The initial treatment of concussion is rest.  No sports, reading, screens etc.  The goal is to give the brain a break and let it heal. Most of the time this is enough and the patient will recover just fine and be able to return to their usual activities.  But what about when the symptoms don’t go away in a couple of weeks.  What about when they seem to linger and not resolve as expected.  When this happened to the 10-15% who didn’t respond as expected, it was thought that the problem wast still in the brain.   That there was some physical or biochemical component that wasn’t resolving and the symptoms persisted.  But, when you look at the mechanism of the injury,  there is strong evidence to suggest that reason for the prolonged symptoms might be because of an injury to the neck that occurred when the concussion occurred.

Whiplash associated with the concussion.

When and adult or child experiences a trauma that is forceful enough to cause a concussion, they are also susceptible to experiencing whiplash.  Most people associate whiplash with automobile accidents but in reality, any force to the cervical spine can potentially cause the injury, especially if it was enough to cause a concussion.  Whiplash trauma can cause some or all of the following:

Spinal Misalignment

Injury to Spinal joints

Soft tissue injury

Ligament Injury

Nerve irritation

Disc injury

Interestingly enough Post Concussion Syndrome and Whiplash share the following potential symptoms:

Dizziness

Nausea

Neck pain

Headache

vision problems

Ringing in Ears

Memory problems

So if you or someone you know has post concussion syndrome, we advise that they also be evaluated for whiplash.  Chiropractors have had a long history of helping patients recover from whiplash as spinal alignment and mechanics is their main focus.  If you would like to see if we can help you with post concussion syndrome, whiplash or another health challenge just click the get started button below.  We offer a free, no obligation consultation to see if we might be able to help.