Edling Chiropractic

I was at a concussion seminar this weekend and it was interesting to learn that Wisconsin is the only state in our 5 state area that does not have formal law on return to play for athletes w

Nice form

I’ve been involved in sports and managing sports injuries for 25 years and I’ve seen concussion diagnosis and management change quite frequently over the years. I think it is important that this subject has really went public over the last few years with notable figures in the sports world like Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburg Penguins who has had a real problem with repeated concussions and many pro football players. The thing is the younger the player the more cautious you need to be because the brain is not fully developed.

I remember having my first concussion in 8th grade football. I saw stars and everything got loud and black for the rest of the game. I can not remember scoring a touchdown in the second half. Management was smelling salts and if you seemed half way ok you went back in. That is a complete no-no now. You are out for the day for sure.

Here are common symptoms which we have the athlete grade from 0 to 6 for severity.
Headache
Nausea
Balance problems/dizziness
Fatigue
Drowsiness
Feeling like “in a fog”
Difficulty concentrating
sensitivity to light
Sensitivity to noise
Blurred vision
Feeling slowed down.

I would not expect a parent or coach to do a full assessment but being aware of the above symptoms is important. Many times just observing the athlete and removing them from play until more of an assessment can be done for a suspected concussion.

A player should never be allowed to return to play until asymptomatic at rest and exertion, and cleared to play by a licesensed health care professional.

If your child has a concussion is it very important that they have a lot of cognitive and physical rest. So that means basically not doing much of anything for a few days,.

A lot of times concussion symptoms are vague. 40% recover within a week, but many suffer for months and these can be hard to manage and need a multi-disciplinary forms of treatment.

I have found that adjusting works great, and there are some great nutritional things one can do do help. Remove inflammatory foods like grains, add omega 3’s for brain healing work well, DHA in younger patients. Remember your brain is made up of about 70% fats. Your brain aslo needs good sugars since it needs glucose for fuel. So fruits, veggies are good. No junk food.

Concussions are neuro-metabolic and take time and are a process of healing. There are many new tools such as impact testing for baseline so good stuff out there for assessing, but sometimes good old time and being cautious is imperative because we just don’t know exactly the process of h ealing that needs to take place. Everyone is different.

Great Championship football games this past weekend. Another reason to practice special teams. Both games decided by special teams. A missed 32 yard chip shot field goal for Baltimore and a fumbled punt gave it the the Giants. !/3 of the game is special teams. That kicker is going to take that miss to his grave. Until next time, big SCF-Osceola basketball game tonight up in SCF. This was the big rivalry game when I was in school. Dr. E