Post: #1

Saturday morning, I gave myself a concussion.

The way it hapenned is nothing spectacular or blog post worthy.

It was raining and I put on my rain jacket to get out of my car. Because it was raining, I had a sense of urgency to hurry up and grab my bag and get inside. I opened the door and quickly moved and smacked the top of my head on the top door frame.

Really hard.

I didn't black out or anything. I swore. Alot.

Went and had one of my best workouts ever.

and then started blankly staring at shit and confused as hell.

I have a concussion before but I was curious what you guys have done to speed up the healing.

I read fish oil helps and stay off caffeine.

Aything else?

Post: #2

Just take a nap soon as it happens... sleep it off bro!

Just kidding I hear thats not the thing to do at all with head injuries.

Post: #3

The treatment for concussion is two days strict boredom.

Lie in a dark room. No tv, no books, no entertainment, no conversation, no music, nothing. No exercise either.

If you're supposed to be working, I'd advise that you see a doctor to get a sick note. Work will prevent the healing process.

The only thing you're allowed to do is take pain meds if you have a headache.

Otherwise you might end up with chronic headaches and concentration problems if you try to work through a concussion. Concussion causes your brain neurons to rip apart, they can heal but you have to give them a chance to do that and nothing else.

Obviously if you get worse, go see a doctor to get a brain scan. By worse I mean: worsening headache, worsening drowsiness, vomiting.

Post: #4

We get taught this in rugby teams, but I can't add anything more than what Thomas said.

Post: #5

That's all I've been doing. YouTube all day. Ive put down my books, languages, everything.

I've been off work because I read electrical blueprints all day. Most of them are retarded and require you to think what the idiot engineer meant. So, none of that.

Thanks

Post: #6

Thomas is right.

Add to that: You'll have long-term damage. You can mitigate if not totally eliminate it by taking fish oil and eating brain-healthy foods like blueberries.

Post: #7

This might sound dumb, but try not to hit your head again. I've had them before, and they are like knee injuries. If you do it once, you are pre-disposed to them for a long time. Even a not-so-bad bump can cause another concussion. Just take it easy, like everyone else is saying.

Post: #8

Hey Zeus,

I've seen plenty of concussions in my time with Rugby, and it's disgraceful (even at an international level) how they are managed.

As Thomas has already mentioned, if symptoms of nausea, headaches or visual disturbance are worsening you need to see a Dr.

The Zurich protocol is a great guideline when returning back to activity safely following a concussion. This is targeted at a return to contact sports (AFL/Rugby/NFL etc).

Basically once the symptoms resolve at rest you can progress in this order:

Gentle cardio session
Resistance Training
Non-contact training
Contact training
Back to playing sport

If at ANY time the symptoms return during this progression, you have to immediately stop and return back to the start (rest).

There has been studies to show that light cardio can actually fasten the recovery from concussions.