How Chiropractic Care Can Help Treat Concussions

Most people associate visiting a chiropractor with back pain and mobility issues, but there are many other health problems that chiropractic care can help to treat. One of the lesser-known conditions benefited by treatment is a concussion. Let’s find out more about concussions and how chiropractic care at Brookdale Health can help treat them.

What is a concussion?

A concussion is a type of traumatic brain injury (TBI) that occurs when an accident or injury causes the brain to move around rapidly inside your skull. When this happens, it causes the brain tissue to change shape, and this can stretch and damage the brain cells. Further damage can occur in the form of chemical and metabolic changes within the brain cells, which makes it more difficult for them to function properly. Since the rest of the body relies on the brain to communicate with it, the effects of a concussion can affect wider body functions, including movement.

Signs and symptoms of a concussion

It’s not always easy to tell if someone has a concussion, the main reason being that there are no obvious visible signs. There are also no firm objective tests, such as a blood test or urinalysis. Instead, doctors must rely on observation of much subtler changes to make a diagnosis.
 

Some of the signs of a concussion include:

• Loss of consciousness
   

• Balance issues
   

• Glazed appearance
   

• Memory loss
   

• Difficulty responding to questions quickly
   

• Confusion
   

• Inappropriate emotional responses
   

• Vomiting
   

• Headache
   

• Dizziness
   

• Sensitivity to light and noise

It’s important to be aware that while some of the physical manifestations of a concussion will appear immediately, some may not show up for days or even weeks.

How can a chiropractor treat concussion?

Chiropractors are medical professionals that specialize in disorders and injuries affecting the musculoskeletal system, which refers to the bones, muscles, and other connective tissues that enable our bodies to move around. How does this relate to a concussion? Well, many people don’t realize that the force that occurs in a traumatic brain injury like a concussion can easily affect the alignment of the vertebrae in the spine. Even the smallest misalignment in the spine has the potential to affect the spinal column – the column of nerves that forms an integral part of our central nervous system.


By choosing to focus on improving and optimizing the alignment of the spine, it’s possible to directly affect physical causes that are contributing to the symptoms associated with a concussion. This is especially true if the misalignment has occurred in the cervical spine, which is the part of the spine that extends into the neck. Some studies have suggested that nearly all patients who experience a concussion have some degree of misalignment in their cervical spine.


Spinal adjustments performed by a chiropractor have been shown to help improve the flow of cerebral spinal fluid to the brain – a substance that provides essential nutrients, removes waste, and modulates pressure changes in the brain. It can also reduce pressure on nerves surrounding the spinal cord, which could be causing pain, inflammation, and other symptoms of nervous system dysfunction such as headaches, dizziness, and nausea.


Chiropractic treatment is drug-free, non-invasive, and largely painless, making it ideal to help patients to recover fully following a concussion.



If you would like to find out more or to schedule an appointment, please contact our chiropractic team today. Visit Brookdale Health at our office in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. You can also call (763) 561-4045 to book an appointment today.