RETURN TO PLAY DIFFICULT TO PREDICT
New Braintree, MA October 30, 2012 Working with athletes is an incredible privilege. They are motivated and eager to try the interventions you recommend as it pertains to recovery from sports-related brain injury. Concussion in sports is bedeviling at times. More so when an athlete is recovering from a second or third injury. As a clinician I am asked frequently if I will clear an athlete to participate in his next game or the Thanksgiving Day match with an arch rival? If you have read any of these published blogs then you know that recovery takes time and rest. No player may anticipate being sidelined one day and being cleared for contact then next. No player! There is too much risk of second impact syndrome - a condition that results from the brain's inability to tolerate a second blow to the head while still recovering from the first. While an infrequent affliction it can be fatal.More frequently, during recovery an athlete may participate in light exercise, a ball toss, or shooting on the goalie which can create subtle delays in recovery from concussion. Why? The answer to this depends upon the extent of rest an athlete allows himself after injury. Physical symptoms such as headaches, dizziness, and fatigue fade before the lingering neurocognitive effects such as decreased concentration and speed of processing. Healing must be complete before returning to play in order to assure the athlete is not at an increased risk of re-injury. In the past, I have worked with athletes who reported feeling "great and normal" who become re-injured their first time out. Now these athletes must return to competition in a carefully controlled manner.
Post-traumatic headaches are commonplace in as many as 60 percent of cases. Lingering headaches are a sign that healing is incomplete. If they persist greater than 2 weeks. I usually conduct an analysis of the athletes daily routine and discover they are not "resting" their brains as much as they should and may be prolonging their distress.
