Let's Talk About Concussions

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have estimated that as many as 1.6 to 3.8 million concussions occur annually in the United States. As awareness regarding sports related concussions increases, a better education and more consistent preventive measures are vitally more important. Listen in as Krista Leake, Centra Clinical Rehab Coordinator and Physical Therapist shares about the signs, treatment and precautions to keep you and those you love safe!

Cami Smith:

Welcome to Centra Scripts. Here, we talk about health, wellness and practical tips for your everyday life. I'm your host, Cami Smith. Hey everyone and welcome to Centra Scripts. My name is Cami Smith and I am your host. So today, I am here with Krista Leake and she is a physical therapist. We're going to be talking about concussions, something that I would say many people have had experience with, especially in this season. We're headed into fall. We're headed into the school year, the new sports season, where there is a lot of knocking around happening.

Cami Smith:

So for parents, but also for athletes and for just the public in general, it's so important to know the things that will help you that can be preventative, but then also for care after the fact. So Krista, I want you to tell us a little bit about your role here at Centra. Before we jump into all of that, how did you get into this field?

Krista Leake:

Well, by trade I'm a physical therapist and I'm also a certified athletic trainer. So both of those are involved in concussion care. But my role at Centra, I am the clinical coordinator of quality. So I really focus on making sure that everyone is performing evidence-based treatment and that we are giving the best quality care that we can.

Cami Smith:

I love that. So what is a concussion, like a clinical perspective? Because I know when I hear a concussion, I hear somebody got hit in the head and you need to be very careful. But from a clinical perspective, how can you define that for us?

Krista Leake:

So the official definition of a concussion is that it's a type of a traumatic brain injury. It is caused by a bump, a blow or a jolt to the head, or by a hit to the body that can actually cause the head to shake and the brain will either go forward or back side to side or even turn inside of the skull.

Cami Smith:

Oh, okay.

Krista Leake:

That sudden movement can cause the brain to bounce around, twist and then it causes a chemical reaction.

Cami Smith:

Oh wow.

Krista Leake:

Sometimes it can even some stretching or damaging to the brain cells. But the important thing is is that chemical reaction. It's not where you get a severe traumatic brain injury where you may have a bleed in the brain, which is a structural thing. This is something that's very difficult to see. Sometimes I like to explain it like it's a sprained brain versus a bruised brain or a cracked skull. What's interesting, it is kind of an invisible illness. You can't look at someone, say, "Oh, you have a concussion." So it is very much a clinical diagnosis. We go by signs, we go by symptoms and how someone is feeling. There are imaging that you can do. They rarely show anything. [inaudible 00:02:57].

Cami Smith:

Yeah. That was so surprising to me when I saw that an MRI or a CT scan, this will not detect a concussion.

Krista Leake:

Right. Occasionally, if it's super severe, you may see some changes on there. But for the most of the time, like I said, if it is a chemical injury, you're not going to see that str

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