Concussion Recovery: Time to Act
“If there is one thing I could tell everyone to help society’s concussion problem. It would be ‘Dont wait. Get treated.’”
When it comes to concussion management and recovery there are many factors which must be considered when providing a patient with a prognosis. The most common question I receive when meeting a concussed patient is “how long will I be out/sidelined/off work?”
Although, a loaded question and one that requires an in-depth understanding of the patients current and past psychological, nutritional, and exercise behaviour, there is one factor that continues to pop up in regard to predicting length of recovery.
That important factor is “average days until first visit/treatment”. In a study just recently published by Kowalcyzk et al. (2020) their data demonstrated that patients who recovered within 30 days of a concussive injury saw a trained concussion therapist within 4.4 days of onset. This group recovered from their concussion in an average of 19.7 days. Another group of concussed patients who experienced a prolonged recovery (over 30 days) averaged 7.9 days from concussive incident to first visit/treatment with a concussion professional. These patients then recovered from their concussive injury in an average of 76.9 days.
That is a 57.2 day difference between recovery times!
It is also important to note that there was no significant difference in initial post-concussion symptom severity scores between the groups. That means that even though some may have had far worse initial symptoms (such as headache, dizziness, blurred vision etc.) that did not mean they were at increased risk of prolonged recovery. Instead, their time from concussive incident to initial visit/treatment was crucial to determining their time “off”.
This study only adds to the growing body of literature that proves that early intervention is crucial in successful concussion management! That is precisely why we have dedicated times each day put aside for newly concussed patients. If you had a concussion recently, we will get you in same day to make sure we are maximizing your chances at full recovery!
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