Some Activity may be Beneficial for Young Athletes with Concussion

As high school athletes return to the practice fields this week, researchers are focused not only on how to prevent potential brain injuries, but also how best to treat young people who have already experienced traumatic brain injury.

Read More: Traumatic Brain Injury Attorney in Wisconsin

Dr. Danny Thomas, a pediatric emergency medicine physician at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin and an associate professor of pediatric emergency medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin has devoted a study specifically on the topic and according to an article by CBS 58, the results of his study could change the way concussion patients are treated.

It’s long been thought that activity too quickly following a concussion may make symptoms  worse.

“Thomas says the team of doctors involved in the study looked at symptom spikes, which are an increase in your symptoms from day one, to day two,” the article reads. “They found about one third of patients had some sort of spikes and didn’t get better immediately. However, the majority of those did not have an increase in physical activity that would cause their spikes.”

While spikes occurred in subjects despite an increase in physical activity, the same study did find that mental activities such as returning back to school did increase symptom spikes..

Thomas says in the article that means some activity may be good, but the most important thing is to prevent a second concussion while recovering.

“I think it’s really still important to recognize that while we are saying it is OK to go back to school and some light activity, it is absolutely vital not to go back to sports and collision sports, or any high-risk activities like rock climbing or roller coaster riding, until you were truly fully recovered because it can be dangerous if you go back to soon,” Thomas said in the article.

Thomas says it can take up to 10 days for concussion patients to fully recover.