Concussion Alliance CEO, Board Chair Quoted in The Atlantic
By Conor Gormally, Co-founder and CEO of Concussion Alliance
In June, Leadership Team Member Dr. Elizabeth Sandel and I had the opportunity to (separately) talk with Tove Danovich for an article about concussions and why it’s so hard for patients to find care. Tove and I spoke for well over an hour about the differences between researchers’ and most clinicians’ understanding of concussions, why this is the case, and what we at Concussion Alliance are doing about it. I also spoke at length about my own struggles to find proper care for my concussions and persisting symptoms. While we shared war stories about trying to find providers and managing daily symptoms, I had no idea how intense her symptoms were until her beautifully written article came out.
The Standard Advice for Concussions Is Wrong was published in The Atlantic on October 6th. Below, we’ve included her quote from me and two quotes from Dr. Sandel.
Conor Gormally, the executive director of Concussion Alliance, told me that he believes concussions are treatable injuries that just aren’t being treated by the average medical professional. “The biggest problem people face are barriers to the care that they need, which is out there,” he said.
Emergency-room data don’t capture everyone, Elizabeth Sandel, a brain-injury-medicine specialist and author of Shake Brain, told me, because a lot of people just go to their primary-care doctor.” The statistic of 3.8 million Americans a year gets bandied about, sometimes linked to mild head injuries from sports and other times brain injuries of all kinds. Falls, recreational activities, car crashes, and domestic violence all can cause head trauma.”
”Until recently, Sandel said, doctors often recommend that people with a brain injury spend the first day ‘cocooning,’ or resting in a dark room. Now experts better understand that, for some patients, resting may be beneficial, but for others activities that don’t overly exacerbate symptoms might speed healing.