Latest / Understanding Your Concussion / Episode 15: Intro to Understanding Your Concussion Course Part 3
Transcript
- Jana: Hi, I am Jana Kapp. 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. We are officially halfway through the first season of understanding your concussion. Thank you so much for joining me. I Hope you are finding value in these episodes to help you navigate your concussion recovery journey Throughout the season, I've been alluding to the understanding your concussion courses. These courses I created to empower those who are navigating a concussion recovery journey. As someone who has lived with persistent symptoms, I know how challenging it is to not understand what you're living, what you're going through, and how you can start to move towards feeling and functioning like yourselves again. This is where understanding your concussion courses evolved from. as a healthcare professional, I found myself repeating the same information to different clients over and over and over again. And I started recognizing that this information that I continue to repeat. It is important for anyone who is navigating a concussion recovery journey. But as a physiotherapist who works with acute and persistent concussion clients, I've realized that in a session, it's really hard to support someone in all the different facets of a concussion recovery journey. when an individual comes into the clinic, And they are paying for a concussion assessment. I am going to prioritize understanding what is going on behind the scenes of the systems that work with the brain. Your vision system, your vestibular system, the autonomic nervous system, the neck, and any of the other things that may be associated with their specific concussion recovery journey. When we only have between 30 minutes, maybe up to 90 minutes when you work with a therapist, it doesn't often leave a lot of room for the educational piece. in the clinic, a concussion provider is going to prioritize assessment, treatment, and home exercise programs through our professional lens in order to support you in that particular aspect of your journey. am invited to speak at concussion support groups and discuss my own personal journey and the information that I value in a concussion recovery. when I share the educational component, many individuals comment, I really wish my physiotherapist had let me know this. Why isn't this information more accessible? It's because as a professional, we are devoting your time, your money to what you came into the clinic for. Sometimes The educational piece of how to live with and navigate a concussion recovery might not be addressed. Because I have the background of personally navigating this journey myself, I know there is so much value in that educational component. But when someone comes into the clinic and I have my physiotherapist hat on, I will focus more through assessment and treatment. I created understanding your concussion courses. so that that educational component is accessible to anyone living with concussion symptoms. Your rehab component is an essential aspect of this journey, but typically it only takes up about 30 minutes of your day, and maybe you participate in those 30 minutes throughout the week to perform or to practice your exercises that you are prescribed from your concussion provider. What do you do outside of the 23 hours and 30 minutes that you are not doing your exercises? There is this mismatch in concussion care where the educational component is essential for the individual to have access to and be aware of, but then isn't often provided by the therapist or concussion provider themselves. Because I have that unique perspective having navigated this journey myself, I know how important it is to know what to do with yourself outside of those 23 hours a day. the reasons that I created these courses is because there often isn't time that we can devote as concussion care providers to the educational component. How to navigate your symptoms. How to manage your symptoms. How to engage with rest. You might be told by your concussion provider that you require more rest in your concussion recovery journey. But maybe they don't say much more beyond that, as there isn't enough time to devote to why you need to rest and how you need to rest. Right now in the concussion recovery world, cardiovascular exercise. is a priority in your concussion recovery journey. However, I do find that people who are living with persistent symptoms often are not engaging in their cardiovascular exercise because they often don't understand why it's important and how to exercise through a concussion recovery lens. The understanding your concussion courses cover symptom management, rest, and exercise. These are the courses that I've alluded to in the podcast. And I thought that it might be a good idea to start to share with you what is inside understanding your concussion courses so that you can start to determine if this is something. That is really going to enhance your recovery process. over the next few weeks, the understanding your concussion courses episodes are going to be sprinkled in amongst the style of episodes you've already been listening to. the understanding your concussion courses come with four lessons. These are the lessons that I believe are essential for an individual living with concussion symptoms to begin to understand, to support and empower them through their concussion recovery journey. Each of these courses take you through the what, why, and how of a concussion recovery through the lens of each lesson. There are four lessons: understanding your injured brain, understanding symptom management, understanding rest and recovery, and understanding exercise. Lesson one, understanding your injured brain, is free on my website. It takes you through What is going on behind the scenes of your injured brain? Why concussion subtypes? So that you can start to identify for yourself what systems may be impacted in your concussion recovery and which concussion provider to seek out for support. And how the brain heals. Yes, the brain can heal. It's just not very good at it on its own and it needs your support. When you have that understanding, of how the brain heals, you can show up differently in your concussion recovery journey. lesson two, understanding symptom management, takes you through understanding what overstimulation is, why we experience concussion symptoms, spoiler alert, their communication from our brain. You might already know that if you've been listening to the podcast. And three, how to respond to your symptoms. based off of what your brain is communicating. And I take you through those four things as I discussed in the episode, what your symptoms are communicating. Detect error, perceive threat, integration issue, and capacity. Lesson three is devoted to rest and recovery. What is rest? Why do we rest and how to rest? Because many of us in our journey are unaware of how to rest. I was myself in the beginning of my journey, and that's how I developed these different ways of engaging and participating in rest. I also take you through what is recovery time? Why are we focusing on recovery time? And how to recover. Lesson four is understanding exercise. What is exercise? Let's start there so that you have an idea of truly what is exercise, because there is a difference between physical activity and exercise. Why do we exercise for concussion? And how? To exercise safely and efficiently when you are recovering from a concussion. The sprinkled-in episodes that are going to take you through each of these lessons will give you a listen to the introduction to the lesson itself, an introduction to the what, an introduction to the why, and an introduction to the how. of each particular lesson in understanding your concussion course. Not everyone does have access to a concussion care provider. These courses are going to start you on your journey so that you can start to work with your brain to promote healing and determine for yourself when it is the right time to seek out support, treatment, or alternative therapies to enhance your recovery process. Empower yourself in your concussion recovery journey so that you can begin to work with your brain, promote healing, and return to feeling and functioning like yourself again. Let's dive in to the next lesson. Lesson four introduction. Our understanding of concussion management is constantly evolving. We continue to learn more and understand more about concussions due to the ongoing research. We are beginning to realize that there is more going on behind the scenes in a concussion recovery. We Are we gaining a better understanding of the neurometabolic cascade of events ongoing in the brain? We are now beginning to understand and address the underlying physiological response in the body, which we were previously unaware of. The best way to address the underlying physiological response is by introducing exercise instead of the old approach of sit and wait it out. The sit and wait it out approach involved waiting for your symptoms to resolve prior to engaging in any type of activity or task, including exercise. We are moving away from this approach as we now know that this approach leads to increased symptoms, increased fatigue, depression, deconditioning. Increased risk for persistent symptoms and a longer recovery time. We are now moving towards an active approach, engaging in activities of daily living and exercise as early as day three post injury. By adopting more of this active approach earlier on in the recovery process, we are seeing symptoms decrease sooner, improved sleep, improvements in mental health. Improvements in cognitive performance, a decrease of persistent symptoms, and shorter recovery time. This lesson is devoted to helping you to understand more about the underlying physiological process behind the scenes, the benefit of exercise, and how to incorporate exercise safely in your journey. Regardless of wherever you are in your journey, whether that is acute or persistent, adopting an active approach will begin to move you in the direction towards healing. Before starting any exercise, first ensure with your doctor that it is safe for you to begin exercise. You want to check in with them, regardless of your concussion, that it is safe and there is no underlying reason you should not engage with exercise. When we think of concussion symptoms, we often think of the more typical symptoms associated with a concussion: headache, nausea, and dizziness. We have become much better at recognizing we require treatment for those symptoms and typically look to seek out treatment for the neck, vision, and vestibular system. Although these symptoms can stem from a dysfunction in either of the systems I just mentioned, we have been missing a key component that can also lead to the experience of those symptoms. We are beginning to learn that there is an underlying Physiological response, the body and nervous system go through after sustaining a concussion, which we were previously unaware of. The dysfunction of this system. Can lead to the experience of headaches, nausea, and dizziness, but can also lead to the experience of other symptoms we often do not relate to our concussion, such as fatigue, digestive issues, anxiety, sleep disturbances, and exercise intolerance. This module is dedicated to helping you to understand what is going on behind the scenes that could be leading to these atypical symptoms and the inability to exercise or return to sport after a concussion. Introduction I had a challenging relationship with exercise in my recovery process. At the time I was navigating my journey, not as much information was available. I knew as a physiotherapist that exercise was beneficial for health, but I was often confused because exercise wasn't always making me feel better in the short term. When I would exercise, my symptoms would flare up. Sometimes I would feel better, and sometimes I would not. Using my physiotherapy background, I eventually determined how to safely and effectively exercise without exacerbating symptoms. I was beginning to see the benefits of introducing gentle cardio exercise in my journey. Over time, I slowly progressed, and eventually I was able to return to my level of exercise again, along with returning to the sports I enjoyed participating in. Even though exercising in this journey wasn't always easy, especially in the short term, it was extremely beneficial in the long run. In this module, You will gain a better understanding of why we may struggle with exercise initially, but also why exercise is beneficial for the overall recovery process. Introduction. Hopefully, by now, at this point in this lesson, you are gaining a better understanding around why exercise is beneficial for a concussion recovery. Regardless if you are in an acute or persistent stage, exercise is an important aspect of your recovery process. In this module, we will address how to exercise. There are different exercise protocols available to access for a concussion recovery. I am going to focus on the protocol I have found to be the most efficient and effective for both acute and persistent stages of healing. This information May come across as a step-by-step approach for how to exercise. Keep in mind that there is always more nuance in our own unique journeys when applying the evidence to our unique situation. It can appear straightforward to apply exercise in your journey. But things may not always go linear or smooth sailing. This is why ensuring you have an individualized approach cater to your unique needs will enhance your recovery process. Ensure you connect with someone who can safely, effectively, and efficiently apply the evidence to your unique healing journey. And a gentle reminder that it is always beneficial to check with your doctor to ensure it is safe for you to incorporate exercise into your journey. If you are looking to connect one-on-one for support in this aspect of your journey or any aspect of your journey, check out concussionhealingspace.com for more information or reach out directly to me. 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