Concussion Clinic - Rehab Following Concussion

Rehabilitation following your concussion

Following your concussion, you will be instructed to take it easy and rest for 2-5 days. This amount of time allows your brain to heal from your injury. Following this rest time, you will be evaluated by the concussion clinic and may be referred to physical therapy, occupational therapy, and/or speech and language pathology.

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 reported difficulty when attempting to complete more than one thing, 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.

Back To Top