For many decades now, patients who sustain a concussion and seek treatment for lingering symptoms have been told to go home, rest, wait and ultimately accept the results. Their brain might heal, but it might not. They may get a CT scan and, if the head trauma was particularly serious and recent, an emergency department visit, but rarely anything more. For too many of these individuals, the dream of feeling “normal” and returning to their baseline was elusive.
That outdated treatment model doesn’t work for everyone, and certainly isn’t compatible with the patient-centric approach that is becoming the new standard in health care. It’s also the reason I co-founded Cognitive FX, offering an alternative for patients who feel left behind by traditional medicine.
The condition that plagues so many people who have had a concussion in the weeks, months and even years after their trauma is called post-concussion syndrome. It’s incredibly common and, unfortunately, it’s also commonly misunderstood and dramatically underdiagnosed. It doesn’t show up in standard imaging, and the symptoms are often vague and wide-ranging.
Identifying, studying and treating it is how we will finally bring concussion treatment out of the dark ages.
A new lens on the brain
At Cognitive FX, we use task-based functional MRI that gives us a real-time view of how the brain is functioning. It’s a vital tool that shows us what the brain is doing and, more importantly, what it isn’t doing well.
Because so many patients with a concussion don’t remember exactly how their trauma unfolded — where their head was hit, what impact or impacts triggered their injury, or the severity of those impacts — we look at the brain directly. Through fMRI, the brain tells us its story, and the brain never lies.
From there, we create a personalized treatment plan that is specifically catered to each individual patient. We call it EPIC — Enhanced Performance in Cognition — treatment, and it combines our research in neuroscience with proven physical therapy techniques, cognitive retraining and therapeutic rest, resulting in our Prepare, Activate and Recover therapy, or PAR cycle.
Our patients — who aren’t just athletes, but students, parents, working professionals and everyone in between — often see meaningful improvements within days. Upon completing treatment, they often report feeling like “themselves” again for the first time since that fateful slip on an icy day, unfortunate collision on a soccer field or fender-bender in rush-hour traffic.
Beyond medicine: Changing the conversation
As a board member of the US Brain Injury Alliance, as well as president emeritus of the Brain Injury Alliance of Utah, I’ve had the opportunity to advocate for additional research and a renewed focus on brain trauma and the lasting effects of impacts on the brain. Along the way, I’ve learned something important: Medical initiatives will only take us so far, and we need a cultural shift to truly change the conversation around concussion recovery and treatment.
Patients who report post-concussion issues to their doctor may be told that they’re exaggerating, that there’s nothing more to do, or that they’re merely experiencing an independent psychological condition that has nothing to do with the brain trauma they endured.
The truth is that there is always something that can be done.
Getting that message out is easier said than done, and we’ve worked with advocacy groups and attorneys across the US and Europe to help raise awareness around what can often feel like an invisible injury.
From Provo to the Netherlands
I’ll be the first to admit that a clinic in Utah doesn’t seem like it would be a hot spot for concussion treatment breakthroughs, but that just makes our work that much more rewarding. Over the past several years, we’ve seen patients from virtually every corner of the globe. In fact, 7% of our patients currently come from the Netherlands alone.
Why? Word of mouth is a huge factor. Patients who have been dealing with post-concussion syndrome for months or years tend to seek each other out for support and wisdom, and when those patients find something that works, they want everyone else to know. I personally travel to the Netherlands once or twice every year to meet with hundreds of patients, doctors and advocates in the region.
We hold an alumni reunion every year in the Netherlands to connect with former patients and enjoy their stories and life updates. It feels like an extended family. At the same time, interest in post-concussion treatment and technology is rapidly growing in Denmark and other neighboring countries, and it’s incredibly rewarding to be one of the first in the region to reach out and engage with people in these countries.
Why this matters now
We’re really just beginning to scratch the surface of the brain’s capacity for healing when given the right kinds of treatment. The notion that the only treatment for a brain injury is to let the brain figure it out for itself is rapidly collecting dust, and for good reason.
Post-concussion syndrome might seem invisible, but effects like memory loss, mood swings, brain fog, fatigue and mental health woes are real, and we can do something about it.
It’s time to rethink the way we diagnose and treat brain injuries and offer hope, healing and science-backed recovery to the millions of people still living in a haze that appeared suddenly and won’t go away on its own. Because when the brain works better, so does everything else.
Opinions expressed by SmartBrief contributors are their own.
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