Your brain after a concussion
Wham! You get hit. Now you’re worried about a concussion. When we talk about concussions, what is it that’s happened to your brain?
For the majority of concussions, there are pressure changes within the head, the liquid flow around the brain is suddenly jarred and becomes disrupted. Think of it like this: let’s say you are holding a nice round balloon. Suddenly you push the balloon. What happens? The balloon will re-adjust and contort itself to absorb the new pressure. Similarly, that’s what happens to the brain during a concussion.
Western medicine will tell us there are no treatment options—that your best bet is to go home, rest, and take it easy for a while. But in our experience, other disciplines have techniques to help the brain heal. With the proper treatment techniques, we’ve repeatedly seen that the negative effects of a concussion can be reversed.
We strongly believe every concussion injury must be approached slowly, carefully, and very thoughtfully. If there are certain things that begin to surface along the way, you might need to go to the hospital immediately. An experienced natural practitioner will know what to watch for and when to send you that way. If you choose the natural care route for your concussion, be very selective and only work with someone who really knows what they are doing.
Homeopathy can support healing of concussions
In natural medicine, the first tool we look to is arnica—a homeopathic remedy for bruising. Arnica reminds the body how to heal itself from small or big bruising. We often have first-time patients walk through our door who have suffered multiple concussions over the years. After using arnica and/or appropriate remedies for a time, we frequently hear people say they come out feeling better than they did before their first concussion.*
What does that show us? Well, it shows us that homeopathy is likely giving the body the help it needs to heal itself from multiple concussion injuries.
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) can support healing of concussions
Before we ever go down the route of Chinese Medicine, we need to make sure there is no internal bleeding from the concussion. Once we make sure of that, Chinese medicine can be another great tool for helping the brain heal itself. Some herbal formulas will calm down the brain activity enough to allow healing to take place. Other herbal formulas will help increase the flow in the brain for the healing it needs. An experienced Chinese medicine practitioner can help uncover what your particular body needs for that specific concussion.*
Cranium compression
Sometimes, we need to decompress the skull for a concussion to heal appropriately. Medicine uses surgery to decompress the cranium. This is very sensical in severe cases of internal bleeding—when the pressure begins to inhibit large areas of brain tissue. But what about inbetween cases? In these cases, there are ongoing symptoms of cranial compression but no internal bleeding. These cases constantly fall through the cracks in our healthcare system. Some of these cases respond well to superficial cranial adjustments or cranial-sacral techniques. Others need more extensive intervention which might include referral to more invasive cranial adjustments and/or functional optometry to retrain the brain.
The hit impacts your whole body
The more we learn about concussions, the more we see that the strength of the hit doesn’t tell us everything. Instead we need to ask: how did the hit effect the person’s whole system? That’s the more important question. Our biodynamics are so complex; different people’s constitutions can make them more at risk than others for concussion injuries.
Keep in mind that concussions aren’t only found in football and hockey players. There are lots of different ways to get a concussion. We’ve even seen people come in with concussions from orthodontist work done on their jaw. We see people who think they have a concussion but it might be an infection, a food reaction, or an inner or middle ear infection. We’ve also seen people with existing eye-sight issues that keep their body from healing like it wants to.
Concussions can be complex, but the good news is if you or someone you love have suffered from a concussion recently or in the past, there is so much help available. Come see us at Hope Clinic and we will do our best to help your body find the help it needs to heal itself.
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*Homeopathy & TCM offer a number of ways to help concussions, but these are very individualized to the person. Feel free to discuss further with Dr. Brad during your next appointment or in a phone consultation.