Eye2Brain Academy

Concussion

Intricate Work Comp Concussion Case

3/9/2023 Concussion Case Study

 

30 y.o. Female sustains a concussion while holding a child during a co-treat speech therapy session. As the child extended to avoid cueing from another therapist, our patient extended to avoid him and her chair fell back resulting in contact with her head against the wall. 

 

This patient attempted to continue working without limitations for 2 weeks after being diagnosed with a concussion. Due to severe symptoms of blurred vision, headache, nausea, dizziness, sleep dysfunction, difficulty remembering, difficulty concentrating she was put on workman’s compensation and referred to Dr. Fitzgerald & Associates for concussion rehabilitation. Her baseline post-injury Right Eye Assessment is as follows:

 

Began with a total symptom score of 32/96 upon beginning concussion rehabilitation. The patient began treatment utilizing the eyes with syntonic light frequency therapy to balance the autonomic nervous system. We were then able to progress to peripheral vision exercises, taking the strain off of her lack of convergence. As her symptoms progressively decreased, she was able to tolerate eye hand coordination exercises, depth perception exercises, and all exercises forcing the eyes to team together with all movements. She was cleared to return to work by her work comp MD for 4 hours per day, multiple days per week. From 1/4/2023 to 1/27/2023 she attempted this schedule, while also doing concussion management around various work hours. This caused stress to her visual and emotional systems due to using her computer to document therapies done with children under duress. 

 

Due to the consistent symptom score of about 24/96, she began our Multi-Sensory Reset Therapy (Pinnacle Program) for 1 hour per day x 12 days in a row; discontinuing work until further notice. This helped to continue to balance her autonomic nervous system, continue to work toward her eyes working effectively and efficiently together, and decrease her emotional response to stressful situations. She continued concussion management with an Athletic Trainer 3x per week upon completion of this 12-day program. 

 

Two months after her initial visit, her Right Eye Assessment looks like:

This demonstrates that the patient now needs an increased amount of vestibular integration to reduce symptoms. 

 

Utilization of compression, weighted lei, and going shoes off to increase proprioception have improved vestibular responses. She also benefited from sound wave therapy, whether it be standing on a vibration plate or utilizing sound waves over both ears. As of 3/8/2023, she arrived at rehabilitation with a total symptom score of 11 and left at a 4/96…! She has improved sleep quality, zero blurry vision, and is able to perform body weight exercises and walking based cardio exercises without symptom provocation. 

 

She has been back to work for 1 week at 4 hours per day, every morning, with a maximum of 2 patients per day to allow ample documentation time before going home. The patient reports no symptom change or increase with work stimuli now. Below is her Right Eye Assessment from 3/6/2023:

This patient still has some working to do in order to return to her normal, or new normal after concussion. However she has demonstrated significant improvement in every trajectory of concussion.

Intricate Work Comp Concussion Case Read More »

Updating the Return to Play Timeframe

https://www.news.com.au/sport/rugby/world-rugby-extends-minimum-period-that-a-concussed-player-has-to-sit-out-from-seven-to-12-days/news-story/548dfa4b23cf7dc4bd180d43bb5c7207

The above article is associated with World Rugby and their new announcement requiring all athletes that have been diagnosed with a concussion being sidelined for a minimum of 12 days. Formerly this minimum requirement was 7 days across the world, a standard practice regardless of sport. At Dr. Fitzgerald & Associates Vision In Motion clinic, we see numerous athletes, of all ages, that did not think their head impact was “a big deal”. It was only when they began realizing, days later, that they had a headache with certain tasks of daily living, or that they became dizzy when they sat up from lying down, and that they forgot their neighbor’s name across the street. Just like with delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) after exercise, symptoms of a concussion can also be delayed. It is important to gain a thorough history of mechanism of injury, symptom provocation, and discuss nutrition, exercise habits, and sleep hygiene when evaluating and treating a concussion. It is equally as important to utilize the return to play protocol appropriately, and monitor the athlete’s heart rate throughout each phase, since symptom provocation may be delayed up to 24 hours, heart rate will tell you immediately if the athlete will have a side effect from any physical or cognitive activity.

Updating the Return to Play Timeframe Read More »

Train Your Brain to See Again!

Happy Friday! 3 weeks until we host our Train Your Brain to See Again Clinic, July 8-9. We will be covering a wide variety of material related to concussion/TBI, stroke recovery, and multi-sensory systems therapy (aka, our Pinnacle Program). This clinic is open to optometrists, physical therapists and assistants, occupational therapists and assistants, athletic trainers, and doctors. If you plan on staying overnight, hotels near us include the Tru Hotel and the Marriott. Both of these have blocks reserved for this clinic, all you have to do is drop the Dr. Fitzgerald & Associates name and request to be put in that block of rooms! The clinic will run from 8-5 with a lunch and learn built in, so be ready to “drink from a firehose” as we call it here at the office. This will also be a great opportunity to build connections with other healthcare providers and build a team of professionals to refer to and work with.

Train Your Brain to See Again! Read More »