Talking About Health And Medical Care

A blow to your head interrupts the normal function of your brain. This results in a concussion, which is usually not life threatening. However, the effects from this injury are serious. You do not have to lose conscious to have a brain injury. The brain is very complex, which is why symptoms can occur immediately or further down the road. Read on to find out how physical therapy can treat long term concussion symptoms.

What Are The Symptoms?

Every brain injury is different and your symptoms can be different from someone with the same injury. Common concussion symptoms include blurry vision, headaches, sensitivity to noise and light, balance problems, nausea, memory problems, difficulty sleeping and emotional problems. Some people even have problems with driving, using a computer, reading books and difficulty with changing focus. A common complaint is feeling foggy or off. Concussion symptoms occur within the first seven to 10 days and usually go away within three months. However, these symptoms can last for a year or more.

What To Do About Long Term Symptoms?

Unfortunately, this injury can cause long term problems. These long-term symptoms may include chronic headaches, balance problems, dizziness and vertigo. They make it hard to live a normal life. For these reasons, you can benefit from vestibular physical therapy.

Vestibular rehabilitation therapy (VRT) alleviates symptoms caused by damage to the brain and inner ear. It is an exercise-based program designed to decrease imbalance, falls, gaze instability, dizziness and vertigo.

How Does VRT Helps?

VRT uses a problem-oriented approach. It works by addressing the specific needs of the individual. To enter the program, you have to go through a clinical examination. The examination identifies problems related to your concussion. The results help your doctor with choosing the methods of exercise for your physical therapy, which include habituation, gaze stabilization and balance training.

Habituation exercises reduce dizziness that occurs from moving around or making quick head turns. On the other hand, gaze stabilization exercises improve the control of your eye movements. This allows you to have clear vision when moving your head. The exercises also help with vision that bounce or jump around when reading.

Balance training exercise improves your steadiness. It helps you with doing normal activities like performing your job, taking care of your personal needs, walking and driving.

It helps to explore your treatment options to get relief from concussions. Vestibular physical therapy is one of the treatment options that can improve your quality of life.