Blog
The Standard Advice for Concussions is Wrong: Concussion Alliance quoted in The Atlantic
In June, Leadership Team Member Dr. Elizabeth Sandel and I had the opportunity to (separately) talk with Tove Danovich for The Atlantic article The Standard Advice for Concussions Is Wrong. Tove and I had an in-depth conversation, and the article was published in The Atlantic on October 6th; the article includes a quote from me and two quotes from Dr. Sandel, Board Chair for Concussion Alliance.
New website resource: Concussions and Individuals with Pre-Existing Disability
We are excited to announce the publication of a new resource on our website, addressing concussions in Individuals with a Pre-Existing Disability. To our knowledge, this is the only resource of its kind on the web; it includes up-to-date research on how pre-existing disabilities impact the diagnosis, treatment, and recovery from concussions.
Concussed adolescents are returning to driving sooner than might be safe
In a study presented at the American Neurological Association annual meeting, researcher Catherine M. McDonald, PhD, RN, FAAN, found that many adolescents with concussions return to driving sooner than might be safe. Robert Herpen, in an article for Helio, notes, “Those with concussion had more trouble with decision-making and reaction times than those without.”
Techniques to improve fatigue following a brain injury
Did you know that “87% of brain injury survivors feel that fatigue has a negative impact on their life”? This high percentage was a finding from a study about fatigue after TBI by the UK charity Headway. A web page from Headway’s informational website shares important recommendations regarding coping with fatigue following a brain injury. These helpful instructions come from Headway’s Managing fatigue after brain injury booklet.
Early speech-language pathology screening can aid in timely referral and treatment for memory, attention, organization problems post-concussion
Recent findings from a study published in American Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation revealed that using a speech-language pathology screening checklist may prove beneficial in predicting the need for a speech-language pathology referral for pediatric concussions.
PTSD: MDMA-assisted therapy is more effective for PTSD than therapy alone
Research published in Nature Medicine by Mitchell and colleagues found that MDMA-assisted manualized inner-directed therapy (MDMA-AT) is a more effective treatment than manualized inner-directed therapy alone for improving moderate to severe post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Sports-related concussions earlier in the season may have a quicker resolution of symptoms
A retrospective cohort study by Jacob Jo et al. revealed that sport-related concussions occurring during the early third of the season exhibited a quicker resolution of symptoms than those occurring in the later third of the season, although this finding did not remain statistically significant in a multivariate analysis.