Have you recently suffered a concussion and now find it difficult to wait out your recovery in a dark, quiet room? If so, you may be in luck: gentle movement and exercise plays a significant role in concussion recovery. The osteopathic therapists at Jenna Howe & Associates Osteopathy and Concussion Recovery will help you find the right exercises to recover safely and effectively.
Concussions are a fairly common occurrence, particularly among athletes. One study estimates that 200,000 concussions occur each year in Canada. Other studies show that nearly all contact-sport athletes will suffer at least one concussion within five years of play.
However, you don’t have to be an athlete to suffer a concussion. Many people experience concussions after a fall, car accident, or an accident at work. Cycling is also a prevalent source of concussions, even for people who only ride their bikes recreationally.
While a concussion is a mild brain injury–meaning it’s not life-threatening–it still requires a few weeks of recovery. Until recently, the standard advice for concussion patients was to stop all physical activity and rest in a dark, quiet room. However, recent research challenges that notion, suggesting that light aerobic exercise actually serves as an effective treatment for concussions.
At Jenna Howe & Associates Osteopathy and Concussion Recovery, our osteopathic therapists will help you develop an exercise-based concussion recovery plan with movements and exertion levels appropriate for your condition. Request an appointment at our Victoria BC, or Burnaby, BC clinic to learn more!
Understanding Concussions and Their Symptoms
A concussion is a mild type of traumatic brain injury that occurs when the brain jostles in the skull due to an impact of some kind. That impact doesn’t necessarily need to be directed at the head. Whiplash or a hard enough fall can both lead to concussion with any strike to the head itself.
In most cases, a concussion will not cause permanent damage to the brain. However, it can cause various physical, cognitive, or sensory symptoms. Here are some of the most common:
- Headaches
- Blurred or double vision
- Dizziness, vertigo, or imbalance
- Memory loss
- Ringing ears
- Light sensitivity
- Difficult falling asleep
The length of your recovery after a concussion will vary based on how severe it was. Typically, though, you can expect to spend at least a week recovering, and if you’re an athlete, it may take longer before you can fully return to your sport.
Exercise: An Effective Approach for Treating Concussions
While it’s important to rest immediately after a concussion, full rest for more than two days actually impedes your recovery. Prolonged rest can lead you to dwell on your symptoms, making them feel more prevalent and leading to a longer recovery period.
That doesn’t mean you need to immediately head back out to the hockey rink. While light physical activity will help you recover faster, intense physical activity can worsen your symptoms. The key is finding a happy medium between total rest and intense, high-impact workouts.
Our osteopathic therapists can help you develop an exercise treatment program to stay active without overdoing it. Through supervised workout sessions, we’ll help you gradually build up your activity without aggravating your symptoms.
We’ll also provide you with a choice of movement options that are best suited to concussion recovery, such as:
- Walking
- Using an elliptical machine
- Riding a stationary bike
- Swimming or doing gentle water aerobics
We recommend completing 20 minutes of light cardiovascular exercise daily, breaking the movement into 5-minute intervals as you build up your tolerance.
What to Expect During Your Appointments
Our Victoria BC, and Burnaby, BC osteopathic therapists will treat you as a whole person, not simply a set of symptoms. So, while we will take a full inventory of your overall health and concussion symptoms during your initial appointment, we’ll also talk to you about recovery goals, including any sports you might want to return to. This will help us develop the right treatment plan for you.
At our clinic, we’ll supervise your workouts to ensure you aren’t overexerting yourself. At first, we’ll stop you every five minutes to check in on symptoms and decide if you’re comfortable continuing the treatment. We aim to get you up to 20 minutes of uninterrupted light aerobic activity.
From there, we’ll offer guidance on gradually working up to your usual physical activities, whether high school football or recreational bike rides.
Request an Appointment with Us Today
If you recently suffered a concussion, don’t delay your recovery by forcing yourself to rest. Request an appointment with Jenna Howe & Associates Osteopathy and Concussion Recovery so we can get you started with a safe, supervised, and effective exercise program to address your concussion.
