The role of muscles in concussion recovery

Concussions, what more can I say. With Long Island being a hot bed for sports it comes with the territory. You can't fix a concussion, however they can be treated with Neurotherapy such as EEG biofeedback and Neurofeedback . Now these therapies are focused on normal brain functions. I look to aid in the muscle skeletal part of the recovery process. As with any traumatic situation it gets stored in the brainstem and diencephalon. Since we have a blow to the head, there are all sorts of muscles in the head, neck, and diaphragm that can be inhibited causing dysfunctional breathing patterns, jaw, neck, and head pain. There are many exercises that can help with jaw, neck, and breathing, however like one of my mentors Dr Perry Nickelston says(taken from one of his blogs)….”you can think about doing a movement correctly, but it won’t lock in until the basic primal brainstem pattern is reset”. Which is exactly what I do.

Today I worked on a 13 year old football player who just finished concussion rehab with migraine type pain stemming from back right side, to the middle of his head. Taking down the history basically his head snapped back when he hit the ground. When checking neck range of motion, he could rotate his neck to the left but not to the right. Upon muscle testing I found several neck muscles that were weak and inhibited by the diaphragm, and a knot on the back of the neck, where the pain was stemming from. Released, reset everything back on line and strong. Proceeded to check the muscles in the jaw and all were clear. Now because the patient hit the back of his head it's imperative that I check his neck muscles to his eyes. For those who don’t know, the back of the brain controls the eyes. Findings were as the patient looked left all his muscles fell apart. Released the same knot from above ,reset, retest - everything locked in. Patient left pain free and able to rotate his head to the right with no problem. States he had not felt this good since his injury which is about a month. As you can see how treating the muscles of the head and neck can compliment neurotherapy tremendously, getting the best of both worlds treating inside and out.