Concussion Rehabilitation Program Assessment

A thorough post-injury evaluation will be performed in order to gain a complete picture of the patient’s injury and how it’s impacted them. This includes a detailed interview in order to obtain information on; how the injury occurred, how they felt immediately after, how symptoms have evolved over time, which, if any, specific activities, tasks, or situations can make symptoms worse, results of recent medical check-ups or special imaging/tests for your injury, history of previous concussions, information about how the injury may be impacting their ability to work or attend school, current and past medical conditions, previous trauma/injury, medications.

After the initial intake, a physical examination will be performed. This provides insight into the severity of their injury and specific impairments that may need to be addressed as part of an ongoing management strategy. This portion of testing may include a combination of the following: neurological testing, balance, and coordination testing, screening of visual-motor skills (VOMS), vestibular (or equilibrium) testing, gait assessment, and orthopedic assessment of secondary injuries (e.g. neck, shoulders).

A Buffalo Concussion Treadmill Test will be performed. This is to test the patient’s exercise tolerance. This will provide detail on what their aerobic capacity is in order to have them exercise safely. This has been studied out of the University of Buffalo and deemed safe to perform on patients who have suffered from a concussion.

Concussion Rehabilitation Program Treatment Plan

It consists of specific exercises to help improve the patient’s vestibular-ocular function. These sessions will focus on cervogenic rehabilitation through soft tissue work of the cervical spine, exercise prescription specific to the findings of this report; CJP retraining, vestibular retraining, VOMS retraining, specific to vertical eye movements, VMS and convergence.

In addition, the sessions will be used to educate the patient on what a concussion is and how their results from the assessments correlate with the symptoms they are experiencing. A variety of topics will be discussed, including the method of injury, what activities will stimulate symptoms for the patient and should be avoided, how to safely perform their rehabilitation exercises at home, and proper breathing techniques to decrease sympathetic stimulation.

More information about our approach to concussion rehabilitation can be found here and here.