Concussions can happen at any age, but particular attention needs to be paid when children experience an injury to the head. Your child doesn’t need to be on a sports team to have experienced a concussion. They can happen on a bike ride around the neighborhood or a fall down the stairs at home. A big concern for parents is proper recovery, and some kids have persistent symptoms for many months after a concussion occurs. According to research, 30% of children will have multiple symptoms, such as headaches, sleep difficulties, and anxiety, beyond one month from the time of the injury. This can lead to a dramatic reduction in the quality of life for kids.
What Are My Options?
Thankfully, there are good options for concussion symptoms that don’t go away after they should have. In the period of time following the injury, paying attention to the following tips can help:
- Lighter load in the classroom – Cognitive abilities may not be up to par in the days and weeks following a concussion, so easing back into schoolwork as symptoms improve is recommended.
- Slow return to sports and other activities – Another blow to the head during the recovery period from the first injury can lead to longer lasting symptoms or more permanent damage.
If improvement is slow to happen, then the next step is to have your child checked by an upper cervical chiropractor. Upper cervical chiropractors focus on the vertebra that supports the head. In the case of concussions, the atlas vertebra could have easily misaligned during the initial injury, and this can be the reason why your child’s symptoms are still lingering. The atlas normally protects the brainstem, which is a critical part of the central nervous system. A concussion-causing injury that misaligns the atlas might cause it to put pressure on the brainstem, which can interrupt the body’s normal healing processes. In many cases, a gentle and specific adjustment is all that is needed to restore normal alignment as well as normal function to the body.
References:
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-children-post-concussion-idUSKCN12P2JL
