A concussion is a form of brain injury due to head trauma. Concussions can happen in many different settings such as sports, motor vehicle accidents and at home. With improper management, concussions recovery can end up becoming worse. Here is a step-by-step guide on how to treat a concussion.
Early Stage (First 24-48 hours): Rest is the most important thing both physically and mentally, during this phase avoid screen time, limit blue light intake or reading. This can cause unneeded stress on the brain and increase recovery time. Avoiding intake of alcohol and smoking, these can also cause a delay in recovery as well.
Monitoring concussion symptoms is important as well, any reg flags such as vomiting, nausea and dizziness is not a good sign. If any of these symptoms are present, immediate medical attention is recommended.
Stage 2 (Day 2-7): During this phase, after resting for the first two days. The key focus here would be to focus on incorporating very low level exercises. This includes things such as walking and everyday tasks. As the day progresses it is important to see if the person is showing any concussions symptoms. If there are no symptoms, keep doing normal activities. If there are symptoms, dial it back and rest more to recover.
Late Stage (Return to Normal Activities 1-3 weeks): At this point, if the person has not shown any concussion symptoms over a timeline of 1-3 weeks. This would be a good time to have them return to their normal day to day activities. Just again if there are no symptoms of concussion then the person has recovered if not. Dial it back.