Ask Me Something: What happens when you get a concussion?

Whether it’s head-on contact in a sport, a sudden vehicle collision, or any other blow to the head, it can be hard to determine if you’ve experienced a concussion and what the next steps should be. 

UCalgary sources such as the open online concussion course can help us to better understand how we can recover from a concussion and return to our daily activities safely.  

Dr. Kathryn Schneider, BKin’96, PT, PhD’12, an associate professor at the University of Calgary’s Faculty of Kinesiology and a physiotherapist at the Sport Injury Prevention Research Centre and Concussion Rehab Lab, and member of the Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute and Hotchkiss Brain Institute at the Cumming School of Medicine, answers some common concussion questions. 

What is a concussion? 

A concussion is a type of brain injury that can be different for everyone. Symptoms and problems can very, so, it's important that you see your healthcare professional to have an assessment to see what types of areas might be affected following a concussion.  

What are some common symptoms of a concussion?  

A headache is consistently the most commonly reported symptom of concussion, with up to 95 per cent of people reporting a headache following a concussion. Dizziness is consistently the second most commonly occurring symptom following concussion. 

Are children affected differently than adults? 

There’s some research to show that children and adolescents might take longer to recover from a concussion. They might be more at risk at certain ages, potentially due to the developing brain. In many cases, experts recommend being a little bit more conservative with returning to any activity that's at risk of contact, collision or fall among children.  

What steps should someone take once they know or think they have a concussion? 

If you think you've had a concussion, it's important to connect with your healthcare provider and rest for the first 24 to 48 hours. Decrease how much screen time you have and limit physical activity. It is especially important to protect your brain from any type of contact, collision or fall because it's susceptible to a worsening injury. Then, gradually reintroduce activities and start some aerobic exercises. Each of these steps happens every 24 hours provided you are able to complete each step with only mild and brief exacerbation of symptoms. Once all concussion-related symptoms and problems are gone, you should follow up again with your healthcare professional for medical clearance. At this point, the return to sport portion of the strategy of recovering from concussion is an important step where you can then return to multi-player drills and any activity at risk of contact, collision or fall. Then you return to gameplay.  

Do you think there is a myth about concussion that should be corrected?  

You don't have to lose consciousness to have sustained a concussion. In fact, less than eight per cent of people that are diagnosed with a concussion lose consciousness.  

How has our understanding of concussion and recovery from concussion changed over the past few years?  

There's been a lot of research that shows we should take a more active approach to facilitating recovery following concussion and that a concussion is a treatable injury. Add symptom-tolerated aerobic exercises that just lifts your symptoms a little bit more — by two points on a ten-point scale that goes away within an hour. Similarly, activities free from risk can be done as part of that recovery process and there's also research that shows cervical and vestibular rehabilitation or treating the neck and the balance systems can help facilitate recovery. There's more research that shows that incorporating principles that improve movement and let your brain start to get used to that movement again can help you recover faster.