In the days and weeks following even a mild head injury, almost everyone experiences some symptoms that can be placed into one of the following three categories:
- Physical – such as headaches, neck pain, nausea, and fatigue
- Cognitive – including difficulty concentrating and memory problems
- Emotional – such as anxiety, depression, or irritability
Regardless of the combination of symptoms a person may experience, the effects of a concussion can be expected to last a few days to a few weeks and then start to improve. Recovery is typically the quickest in the first few weeks following the injury, but the repair process actually continues for many months. When those intense initial symptoms fail to go away after three months or so, a person is typically diagnosed with post-concussion syndrome.
Researchers still have not determined the exact reason why some people who have had concussions will develop symptoms that don’t go away, while others recovery quickly. There also doesn’t appear to be a relationship between the severity of the head trauma and the risk of developing post-concussion syndrome – meaning that even the mildest of head traumas can cause it.
One thing all concussion cases share in common is their origin – a traumatic brain injury – no matter how mild or severe. An important yet often overlooked factor is the structure of the neck. During an injury, it is likely that the alignment of the vertebrae in the neck is adversely affected. This is an issue that must be addressed for normal healing to take place.
In Dr. Crowder’s upper cervical chiropractic practice, patients who have experienced a concussion are able to correct the root cause of many of their post-concussion symptoms. Dr. Crowder looks for specific misalignments of the top two vertebrae in the neck that are preventing the body’s natural healing process from taking place. When those vertebrae are out of alignment, they put pressure on the brainstem, causing dysfunction in the messages sent between the brain and the body. Dr. Crowder works with his concussion patients to restore normal alignment, allowing normal function to return as well. This provides relief to people whose post-concussion syndrome symptoms have gone on for far too long.
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