Latest / Understanding Your Concussion / Episode 6: The Difference between a Healthy Brain Vs. Injured Brain
Transcript
- Jana: After you sustain a concussion, you're told, it's not that big of a deal, down the road it does end up becoming a big deal to us and how it really impacts our lives. There is a big difference between how our healthy brain used to function compared to now how our injured brain functions. What is really the difference between a healthy brain and an injured brain? Let's talk about it. Hi, I am Jana Capp. I know the concussion recovery journey deeply, both personally and professionally. Join me in understanding your concussion, where I empower you in navigating the complexities. of a concussion recovery journey by sharing the science of what is going on behind the scenes, the stories of why we feel the way we feel, and how we can work with our brain to find our way back to feeling and functioning like ourselves again. After you've sustained a concussion, especially if you're experiencing symptoms, you want to know if you're okay. typically clients say that they went to the doctor, they were diagnosed with a concussion and they were told that they would be fine, that it wasn't that big of a deal. It was only a mild concussion. why are concussions downplayed considering that they are an injury to our brain. Concussions are on the spectrum of a brain injury. A concussion falls under that umbrella of the mild traumatic brain injury. So all concussions are a mild traumatic brain injury. But not all mild traumatic brain injuries are a concussion. there is a spectrum of brain injuries. And then even in a mild traumatic brain injury, there is a spectrum. And I would say even in the world of concussions, there is a spectrum of how different we all are in experiencing this injury and also how we navigate this injury. When you fall into that category a moderate to severe brain injury or on that end of the spectrum, we do see structural changes to the brain. That is something that you can see on a CT scan or an MRI, whereas a concussion you won't see on a CT scan or an MRI. If you want to know more about a concussion and the brain injury spectrum and how a concussion is more of a functional injury to the brain rather than a structural injury to the brain, I would recommend checking out the episode functional injury. looking at the doctor's perspective I can kind of understand how a doctor has this response Because what they're comparing your situation to is very different to what someone experiencing a brain injury at the other end of the spectrum is going to experience. Now, down the road, typically we aren't fine. 50 % of us are still experiencing symptoms six months after sustaining a concussion. And it does become a big deal in our lives. The difference here is our perspective. The lens that we are looking at is not comparing our mild traumatic brain injury or concussion to something more moderate or severe because that's not in our life experience. What we're comparing it to in our life experience is how our now injured brain is functioning compared to how our healthy brain used to function. And that is not the same anymore. Once we start living with an injured brain, when we compare that to how we used to function with our healthy brain, we typically aren't feeling our best we remember how we used to function, but we're struggling to find our way back. to that same level and ability And so we begin to seek out treatments and therapies. And this is an important aspect of the journey. But in the rehab space, typically the focus is into what's wrong. What's not working? What's not functioning well? And how can we fix it? this is an important aspect to include in your concussion recovery. But I have a very different perspective having been in this journey and in this unique position of also being a healthcare professional, I am a registered physiotherapist trained in Canada. I was able to take courses that other individuals don't often have access to if they don't have a background in healthcare. I navigated a variety of different courses to understand concussion management, to understand the neck and concussion, to understand the vision and the vestibular system and really diving deep into those systems that work with the brain, having access to all that information, I still felt that I was struggling navigating this journey. And so I decided to take on a different lens. Instead of only focusing on my injured brain and what was wrong with it, or what required fixing, I also looked to the other end of the spectrum and I wanted to understand more about how a healthy brain functions. What is the gap between that injured brain and the healthy brain and where I am now and what am I actually working towards trying to return to and function? Because I knew how I felt inside. I knew how I functioned as myself. But to fit in that gap from A to B. Rehab was one aspect, but there did seem to be some gaps that were missing, that weren't taking me all the way forward. Once I started having this better understanding of the injured brain and the healthy brain and how it was designed to function, it really gave me a different perspective because now I had a better understanding as to why I was functioning the way I was. When I started to understand a little bit more about what my brain was missing and how it typically functioned, gaining that understanding is what really led me towards having more compassion for myself, more compassion for my brain, and more compassion for the overall journey. when I had a better understanding of what was going on behind the scenes, I started to feel empowered there are various ways that an injured brain functions differently to a healthy brain. Since a concussion is a functional injury to the brain, I'm going to take on that lens and give you a couple examples of how the injured brain is now functioning differently to when it was healthy. want to give you these two examples so that you can feel more empowered in your journey. Once you've a concussion. That leads to movement of the brain within the skull, which can cause a shearing effect of the neural pathways When the neural pathways have been impacted like this, information starts to slow down information can't flow in the same manner that it usually does. after a concussion. you will be slower. You're going to be slower to think. You're going to be slower to respond. You're going to be slower the way you move throughout your day. albeit frustrating, because you know that you can function at a very different level. But when you understand what has happened inside your brain, that the neural pathways have been impacted and information cannot be sent and received in the same speed and efficiency that it once was, well, this can change your perspective of feeling slower, thinking slower. responding slower and moving slower because now you understand the changes that have happened in your brain which can change how you talk to yourself instead of that negative lens of what's wrong with you? Why are you so slow? Why can't you speed up? Why are you not functioning in the same way? Well now, knowing, okay, things are moving a little bit slower because the neural pathways can't function in the same way as their healing. Same if you sprained your ankle. You wouldn't necessarily get mad or angry at your ankle if you knew you had an injury and had sprained it. you might still get frustrated. but you would have more compassion and understanding for your ankle to know, I can't walk as far. I can't walk as fast. I'm going to have to pace myself. I'm going to have to slow down. It's much easier to embrace that knowing what has happened. But typically with our brain when we can't see it or we don't know why those things are happening, it makes sense to take on a negative lens and get frustrated and annoyed with our brain. But when you do have that understanding, then you can say to yourself, yeah, okay, I am slow right now. This is part of the injury. And I can change my perspective on this. Now that I understand why I'm slower, I can embrace this moment and I can recognize where my brain is at. I can take on more of a positive lens to support my brain in the process of healing instead of staying in that negative stressful space that continues to elevate my nervous system impacting my ability to heal. another example is The loss of a filter when we look at a healthy brain, a healthy brain has what's known as a gatekeeper. This gatekeeper is responsible to block out certain information coming into your awareness. It filters out background noise, information you might not need to pay attention to in that moment. So for example, if you're at a coffee shop and you're trying to have a conversation with your friend, there can be a lot of background noise in that environment. You've got the baristas making coffees, the machines making noises. You've got other people in the room having conversation. There may be background music. There may be fans. There's a lot of other things going on. And it's really challenging for an injured brain to process all that information. healthy brain blocks it out with that gatekeeper so that they're able to keep their focus on the conversation that they're having. But do you find after a concussion that that's really challenging to do? That you're really distracted easily and overwhelmed in an environment like that? The reason for that is that gatekeeper disappears once we sustain a concussion. That loss of the filter or that loss of our gatekeeper all of the information it's all coming to our awareness and we're overwhelmed trying to figure out what we're supposed to pay attention to. It is no wonder that we then feel overwhelmed or overstimulated. I remember really early on after my second concussion, I was in a restaurant trying to participate in a pub quiz night. And I could not keep my attention on the question, the conversation, I could not function as myself in that moment. this was early on in my journey when I didn't have the understanding. And I remember leaving that event thinking, what is wrong with me? Why am I feeling this way? Why am I functioning like this? This isn't me. And I didn't go back because I didn't have that understanding and the ability to have compassion for the situation that I was in And I know I disappointed my team because I wasn't able to explain to them why I was not joining anymore because I didn't understand myself. We can also lose our emotional filter. we may end up saying things we don't actually mean or don't intend to say out loud. And we often can get quite overwhelmed by the experience of our own feelings and emotions. So it's not just about filtering out the external information around us. can also be about that internal information coming from within. So no wonder when we sustain a concussion that we become so overwhelmed in certain environments like that because our brain is not functioning in the same way that we're used to. And if you don't have that understanding of what is going on behind the scenes, that can feel stressful. As we move through our healing journey, especially when we find a way to work with our brain, our neural pathways heal. They have the ability to repair, rewire, or create new ones. So our brain does start to increase its ability to speed up and process information in the way that we once remembered. And that gatekeeper, returns. Over time, we start to experience the ability to tune out again, the information we don't need coming to our awareness. That requires time, because this journey, especially if you've been living with long term concussion symptoms, but even if you haven't, any healing journey is always a process. when we can understand what is going on behind the scenes, and there are other things to understand going on behind the scenes in this journey. When we know the why behind those things, why we're slower, why we're easily overstimulated, that's what leads to us being able to give ourselves more grace, more compassion, and remain calm That understanding of why we feel the way we feel and why we are functioning as we are is empowering. we're now not in that state of the unknown and feeling so overwhelmed and lost with the journey itself and to who we are. Now we have a better understanding of why we are functioning the way we are functioning. And then we can start to figure out how to move forward. Our brains are not out to get us. Our brains are trying to work with us. They are communicating to us and they need our support. And that's what the Understanding Your Concussion courses really are designed to do, Understanding your concussion courses are helping you to understand your injured brain, understand your symptoms, understand rest and recovery, and understand exercise. It's going to help you to understand what action to take in your concussion recovery journey and how to respond to your symptoms of what your brain is communicating to you. Having this understanding is going to empower you, so that you can begin to move forward. to feeling and functioning like you again. You can find your way back to you, but you need to have that understanding as to why. Thank you for joining me in understanding your concussion. I hope that you are leaving this episode feeling empowered in understanding what is going on behind the scenes of your injury, why you feel the way you feel, and how to begin to take action to move forward in your unique healing journey. Interested in checking out understanding your concussion course? Head to concussion healingspace.com or the link is in the show notes. You can purchase lesson one through four, reminder lesson one is free. If you're interested in connecting with me for mentorship and support, one on one consultations are available online or join the Concussion Support Club where you get access to all four courses and weekly drop in support club options