As a board certified brain injury specialist and child/adolescent neurologist I am convinced that a brain injury is still an under recognized neurologic problems.
Some facts:
- Concussion is mild brain injury.
- In younger children, the effects of brain injury are much more serious.
- Mild brain injury can have effects that last longer than three weeks.
- Brain injury is a qualifying condition for special education. If your child is having school problems and has a history of brain injury, consider if they are related.
- Symptoms of brain injury can be neurologic, psychological, cognitive, and physical.
- Most brain injuries occur from accidents and not sports.
- Boys and girls are often different in injury pattern and symptom pattern.
- In sports where the rules are the same for boys and for girls (not American football) girls have more concussions.
- “Brain rest” sounds good but is impossible to measure and has very little data to support this recommendation.
In my practice, I pay attention to individualized treatment to speed recovery: activity, monitoring sleep, optimizing the school requirements, nutrition and sometimes ... medication.
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