Concussion Clinic - Provider Overview

Children’s Concussion Clinic

Children's Concussion Clinic provides comprehensive medical evaluation and treatment for children and young adults who have concussions caused by sports, accidents or falls. The pediatric concussion clinic is part of Children's neuroscience program that includes specialists in neurosurgery, neurology, neuropsychology and others that care for brain and spine issues.

No two kids are alike. Neither are concussions.

Some concussions heal in just a few days, while others can take months. That's why Children's Concussion Clinic treats each concussion — and each child — individually. We'll establish the scope of your child's concussion and determine a treatment plan based on his or her specific needs. Together, we'll work to get your child back to school and play, on a schedule that's safe.

Your child’s treatment plan will address individual symptoms, which may include the following services:

Physical therapy

Physical therapy may be recommended following your concussion for the following types of symptoms:

• Neck pain
• Sensitivity to movement/dizziness
• Poor balance, falling/clumsiness
• Fatigue
• Numbness or tingling
• Headache Management
• Helping to return to full sports participation

Occupational therapy

Occupational therapy may be recommended for the following types of symptoms:

• Visual changes
  • Difficulty reading that includes: increased headache/eye strain, difficulty following a line
  • Difficulty looking between two points
  • Blurry or double vision
  • Letters or words missing during schoolwork
• Sensory changes
  • Vestibular difficulties- often reported by kids as feeling lightheaded or dizzy with position changes
  • Sensitivity to light and/or sound
  • Difficulty concentrating or poor attention
  • Change to sleep pattern
• Difficulty with cognitive or executive functioning tasks
  • Forgetting things and memory problems
  • Difficulty sequencing activities (i.e. making snack, morning routine) that they were doing on their own prior to the concussion

Speech therapy

Speech-language therapy may be recommended following your concussion for the following types of symptoms:

• Difficulty understanding stories or instructions/directions, including homework
• Difficulty recalling verbal information (i.e. names of familiar people, important dates, directions/instructions presented in the classroom).
• Difficulty attending to more than one task or when working in a distracting environment.
• Difficulty with memory (i.e. forgetting homework tasks, difficulty remembering new information, etc).
• Thinking is more ‘effortful’, and/or patient appears to be slower in responding to verbal and/or written information.

Neuropsychology

Objective comprehensive evaluation of cognitive/academic abilities in patients with known or suspected brain dysfunction secondary to concussion.  The goal of exam is to indentify factors that could be influencing/maintaining disability and make recommendations to treat or remediate.  Exam includes review of medical and school records as well as interviews of parent(s) and patient.

Integrative medicine

Provides innovative, holistic care for the whole child/family.  Services include chronic pain, supportive care, holistic mental health, and mind/body interventions. 

Neurology

Following concussion, children can often experience many different neurological symptoms such as headache, sleep dysregulation, autonomic issues, learning difficulties, and rarely seizures.  Our goal in Neurology is to help reduce the impact these symptoms have during the recovery process.  We can help identify appropriate work up or other strategies to improve and/or control these symptoms.  For some children when recovery is longer, Neurology will assume treatment and management strategies once the acute phase is over.  

Audiology

Assess hearing to rule out damage to the inner and middle ear and to auditory neural pathways following head injury. Make appropriate referrals for medical/surgical management of the ears when necessary. Discuss compensatory strategies and/or technology for management of hearing loss, ringing in the ears, difficulty hearing/concentrating in noise, and sensitivity to noise.

Psychology

Assessment and treatment of psychological factors (e.g., anxiety, depression, somatoform) and/or adjustment problems related to the concussion and recovery.

Neuro-optometry/vision therapy

Evaluation and treatment of eye sight and eye movement problems that can result from concussion.  This may include difficulties with focusing, double vision, visual acuity, visual perception, vertigo, spatial judgments, and dizziness.

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