Cervus Allied Health

New year. Same us.

🧠 With all the conflicting information out there on what to do after concussion, here are 5 things everyone should know if they’ve suffered a head injury!

Return to sport is one of the most delicate balancing acts we health practitioners have to contend with. While we hate keeping people away from their sports and hobbies, we also want to protect our athletes from injury recurrence.

There are a lot of factors to consider - what is our best estimate of the risk, and what is the tolerance of that risk for the person we’re treating? How good have they been with their rehab and treatment plan? What are the demands of their sport? How does their injury history, general health and physical condition factor in to the equation? How much control over their minutes and exertion do we have? Are finals approaching, and does that change their risk tolerance? What are the psychological impacts of keeping them away from sport, and how does that balance against the potential impacts of re-injury and further time on the sidelines? There is as much art as science in trying to balance this incredibly complicated equation.

Data published some time ago looked at the risk of recurrence for different injuries in professional AFL players and found that even at the elite level with all of the resources available to them, injuries still recur and rates of recurrence remain high even if the player gets through that first game unscathed.

Ref: Orchard, John MBBS, PhD; Best, Thomas M. MD, PhD. The Management of Muscle Strain Injuries: An Early Return Versus the Risk of Recurrence. Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine 12(1):p 3-5, January 2002.

Ever wondered how your neck can contribute to headaches and migraines? Well, there’s a lot of ways. Too many for a social media post. But here’s a big one - sensory nerves located in muscles, tendons and ligaments in the neck can come under stress and send a barrage of electrical information to part of the brainstem which also processes head and face pain.

Knowing which tissues are misbehaving lets us select high-value targets for clinical treatment and go about teaching them to behave properly to remove a large part of the driving force behind many a headache. This typically involves selecting appropriate exercises, soft tissue therapies and joint mobilisations.

If you’re getting headaches and find yourself compelled to rub your neck, chances are this is part of your clinical picture. Try some gentle neck stretches, get some exercise and stay hydrated. If that’s not working, come chat to us and we’ll help you figure it out.

We are super excited to continue bringing the very best in patient-centred care for spinal and headache-related disorders to the Moonee Valley and surrounding community in 2023. If you or someone you know are in need of a trusted expert then we look forward to welcoming you to our beautiful clinic soon. Wishing you all a safe and happy New Year.