A collision during athletics or a slip and fall at home that results in head trauma can lead to a concussion. These head injuries can cause a host of symptoms that can make it difficult for you to go about your day normally. It’s important that you proactively treat a concussion, because rest alone will not help you get back to a pre-injury level of fitness. If you’re looking to make a full recovery after a concussion, oftentimes it is in your best interest to connect with a physical therapist for some vestibular therapy. In today’s blog, we explain how vestibular therapy can help you get back to normal activities in the wake of a concussion.
Vestibular Therapy For Concussion Treatment
A concussion occurs when a force causes your brain to come in contact with the protective skull around it. This trauma to the brain can lead to physical, mental and emotional symptoms, and rest alone won’t treat all these issues. Instead, you’ll typically find that symptoms are better controlled through a vestibular therapy plan.
Vestibular therapy is a form of physical therapy treatment aimed at managing vestibular disorders. Vestibular disorders are issues like vertigo, dizziness, sensitivity to light, balance problems and double/blurred vision. These symptoms are quite common after a concussion, and a physical therapist can develop a specific program to help decrease or alleviate these symptoms.
Every vestibular rehab program will be unique to the individual, but oftentimes the general care process will follow a similar path. Our team will begin by asking you about the incident that led to your concussion and the types of symptoms you’re currently dealing with. From there, they will conduct an in-depth physical exam to assess any physical limitations and to better understand how your symptoms are affecting you. Simple movement exercises may be performed to see how your vision and your body respond to stress and stimuli.
From there, your physical therapist will develop a vestibular rehabilitation program suited to your current needs and limitations. Some focuses in your program will include:
- Gaze Stabilization – We’ll work to help improve your eye movement and eye control. Being able to control your gaze and focus your vision can help decrease dizziness and balance issues. Different eye control exercises can strengthen your gaze and your ability to focus sharply on a specific object.
- Balance Improvement – A concussion can affect your ability to remain balanced when standing or walking. We can work to strengthen specific structures or control symptoms of vertigo that you may experience upon movement to make it easier for you to have great balance. Controlled head movements can help normalize function in your inner ear that is closely tied to your ability to remain balanced.
- Proprioception – One aspect of your health that can be impacted by a concussion is your proprioception, or your brain’s ability to recognize your body in space. We are regularly moving areas of our body without seeing each limb move with our eyes, because our brain can naturally understand where these body parts are based on nerve relays. If these nerve relays are impacted by the head injury, we may not be able to recognize our body positioning relative to the space around us as easily, making movements and balance more difficult. Exercises to help improve proprioception after a concussion are quite common.
- Education – Finally, we’ll also talk with each patient about some of the actions they’ll want to pursue and avoid when they are between sessions. We don’t want you to do something that could lead to a setback when you’re not at the clinic, so we’ll talk about home-based exercises and activity programs you can pursue between sessions that will continue your progress and reduce your risk of a setback. Not only can this help avoid a problem, it can actually serve to speed up your overall recovery.
Let our physical therapy team provide you with the vestibular rehab program you need to make a strong recovery following your concussion. Without proactive treatment, concussion symptoms can linger or worsen. We can help you overcome a concussion and get back to all the physical activities you love. For more information, or for help with a different physical issue, reach out to the team at OrthoRehab Specialists today at (612) 339-2041.
PT of Costa Rican National Soccer Team for 2007 World Cup in Victoria, CAN. Clinical Instructor for University of Minnesota Doctor of Physical Therapy Affiliations
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