The brain is brilliant at survival, which can make your recovery more difficult. 

A head injury can change everything. Your brain is smart - and adaptable. However, due to the nature of head injury or whiplash, your brain may stay locked into a protective response, long after the danger has passed, stalling your healing process. 

At Colorado Concussion Clinic, we believe that your recovery should be as unique as you are. That’s why our physical therapy approach is built on expert care, personalized treatment, and an unwavering commitment to your long-term well-being.

If you've experienced a concussion and are dealing with ongoing vision problems, a thorough neuro-optometry evaluation is essential. Unlike a standard eye exam, which primarily checks for eye health and visual acuity, a neuro-optometry evaluation goes much deeper, addressing the complex systems that control how we process visual information.

You had a head injury and now everything has changed. You may not be able to think clearly, you’re having issues with your memory or concentration, and tasks that were easy for you before are now challenging. Some people may also experience ongoing headaches, problems sleeping, and other physical symptoms. There can be a lot of grief and loss associated with getting a concussion and the ramifications of it.

It’s the last 6 weeks of 2024, and we’ve officially entered the holiday season. Christmas music is playing, lights are going up on buildings, and people are getting into the festive spirit. Holidays are meant to be a fun time of the year, hopefully spent with loved ones. However, this year could be a little different if you’ve recently sustained a concussion. Holidays may now feel overwhelming and overstimulating. But with the following tips, you can prevent the worst of the symptoms. 

This is a question we are asked quite often here at the Colorado Concussion Clinic. It is a difficult one to answer, as there is no definitive timeframe for recovery from a brain injury, and no way to fully predict how long any given individual will take to feel fully recovered. Everyone recovers slightly differently, and every human brain is unique. 

Not everyone who has had a traumatic incident goes on to develop the mental health condition, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). In this article, we will explore some signs that you could have PTSD as a result of sustaining your concussion. 

One of the most prominent symptoms of concussion is headache. After a concussive injury headaches are often the main symptom that impacts one’s daily functioning. One moment you might be effectively managing your pain and then the next thing you know you have a significant headache that causes you to stop what you are doing. Patients often remark, “It just came out of nowhere!”

Returning to work after a medical leave can feel intimidating.  Several questions may be running through your mind...Am I ready?  What if my headaches get worse again? What if I make mistakes?  How am I supposed to function at a high level all day?  How will I manage work and my home life?

You’ve just sustained a concussion, which is a mild traumatic brain injury. You might be wondering if you need a neurologist on your team, since neurologists diagnose and treat disorders of the brain. This is a great question, and one we get all the time.

In most cases, it is not necessary to see a neurologist following a concussion. A lot of our patients go to the ER to get checked out in the first few days, which is a very appropriate course of action. If there is no concern for brain bleed or need for surgery, they are typically told to follow-up with their primary care physician, or PCP. Ideally the PCP will give the patient some guidance for how to manage the symptoms during the acute phase and refer them to a concussion specialist. Getting care for your concussion early has been shown to decrease the risk of persistent post concussive syndrome.

What’s most important to your recovery, is having a medical professional on the case who has extensive knowledge of the typical and atypical courses of concussive injury, as well as the treatments available. Concussion management has dramatically evolved over the years, and it is important to understand that not all doctors, including neurologists, might be up to date. BEWARE of physicians who tell you to sit in a dark room for a week, or that there is nothing you can do but wait for your symptoms to go away. We now know that getting care within even as little as 36 hours post injury improves your chances of a shorter and faster recovery.

When someone has a broken leg, it’s pretty obvious how we can be helpful. We can drive them places, open doors for them, carry their groceries, etc. Concussion is a different kind of injury. It is known as “the invisible injury” because it is not externally obvious to others. There’s no cast, no crutches, and it doesn’t even show up on a CT scan. The individual often struggles with thinking, overstimulation, and fatigue, among other things. Sometimes people aren’t sure what they can do to help. The answers may vary, depending on the individual, but here are some general tips for how to help someone you know who has had a concussion.

As a speech-language pathologist who has focused on treating adults with neurological deficits, I hear this question ALL. THE. TIME. It’s understandable that people become very concerned whenever they have changes in their memory. And unfortunately, there is no easy answer. But hopefully the information in this blog post will provide you with the information you need to help answer this question.

Unfortunately, many of the signs of early stage dementia are also symptoms of concussion. These common signs include forgetfulness, trouble concentrating as long as you used to, difficulty finding the right words, changes in behavior/mood, and difficulty completing daily tasks. Therefore, it can be very difficult to determine if you have dementia based solely on those symptoms. One of the biggest ways to differentiate between the two is that you can typically make progress and recover after a concussion, but dementia typically gets progressively worse over time. If you did not notice any difficulties prior to sustaining your concussion, and then acute changes occurred, that would lead me to believe that the issues are concussion related. It is also possible that you are experiencing some normal cognitive decline (we call that getting older).

One of the things I hear frequently when I meet a new patient is, “All of a sudden I have to write everything down. I used to just remember things and now I’m totally overwhelmed. It’s SO frustrating!”

Let’s take a minute to analyze the situation and put things in perspective. Normally, you have a routine which may involve work, typical household chores, family obligations, etc. But now you’ve been hurt - maybe due to a fall, a sports injury, or a car crash. You’re not feeling like yourself, you’re tired and scared, and all of a sudden tasks are piling up. In addition to your usual responsibilities, you may be dealing with any or all of the following:

• Physical symptoms: headaches, dizziness, nausea, sleep disturbance, etc.

• Emotional symptoms: sadness, fear, anxiety, trauma, etc.

• Medical appointments happening at different times on different days

• Insurance companies

• Work issues

• Not having a car

• Being unable to perform household chores

When we think of it that way, it’s a lot! You’ve had several things added to your plate, and it’s hard to juggle and remember everything that needs to be done.

Did you know that hearing impairment is a common symptom after sustaining a concussion? Many people are aware of post-concussive symptoms such as headaches, dizziness, or memory loss, but are less familiar with the possibility of hearing impairment. Some people experience hearing loss while others may experience symptoms such as difficulty processing auditory information, ringing in the ears, or sensitivity to noise. It varies significantly by person, but these symptoms can sometimes have a profound effect on your life.

You might be surprised to learn that even mild hearing impairment can impact a person’s life and daily functioning. In fact, research shows that even mild hearing impairment is associated with a faster rate of cognitive decline as well as an increased risk of dementia. In this blog, we’re going to discuss several examples of different areas of cognition that are directly impacted by a hearing impairment in addition to some tips to help you alleviate these challenges.