"Concussion, also known as Mild Traumatic Brain Injury or mTBI, are usually caused by a bump, blow or jolt to the head. However, you do not have to hit your head to sustain a concussion. Even the rapid change in the heads momentum such as with whiplash injuries in motor vehicle accidents may be enough to cause the brain to bounce around or twist in the skull also resulting in concussion.
How Does a Concussion Occur?
This shaking of the brain tissue stretches the membranes of the neurons that make up the brain. This results in a dramatic exodus of potassium ions out of the neurons while calcium ions rush into the neuron. In turn the sodium-potassium pumps in the neuron membranes must work overtime to restore the normal ratio of ions inside and outside the membrane (polarization of neuron). You could compare this to a bilge pump working around the clock to pump water out of a leaking boat. All that pumping requires energy in the form of glucose but to make things worse blood ow to the brain is slightly decreased after a concussion limiting delivery of the energy.This is why recent research highlights the importance of relative brain rest to allow the brain metabolism to catch up while recovering from concussion. Full brain rest such as spending all day in a dark room can be useful but only for very brief periods of time. Likewise, placing cognitive, sensory processing, or motor processing demands on the brain beyond its recovering capacity produces acute aring of symptoms. To combat this our therapists use the patient"s unique symptom prole and acute response to training to determine just the ideal dosage of brain stimulation."
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