Concussion Home

❣️According to research, fostering social support during concussion recovery may help decrease anxiety and depression, as well as enhance community integration.

🧚‍♀️This is beneficial as concussion has been linked to anxiety, depression, and other mental health challenges. It has also been found that social support can improve psychosocial and emotional functioning. Improving psychosocial and emotional functioning are pivotal during concussion recovery because this can improve the prognosis of concussions.

🔹For example, improving emotional functioning can help concussion patients regulate their emotions and develop coping mechanisms for their mental health.

🟡Personal identity is also incredibly important for concussion survivors. Social support is crucial for the reconstruction of personal identity as when concussion survivors receive proper social support and validation, it is easier for them to reconstruct their identities.

Unfortunately, most concussion survivors report low social support from their social network and healthcare providers. This stresses the urgency for caregivers, family members, friends, peers, colleagues and healthcare providers to actively provide support, empathy, and validation of suffering and pain…

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💡What is near-infrared light therapy (NILT)?

🔶Near-infrared light therapy takes advantage of the fact that near infrared light passes efficiently through the skull and thus it is able to reach the damaged brain regions. Near-infrared light of 800-900 nm wavelength light is typically used and it merges with the red spectrum of visible light (600 nm wavelength light). This light is passed to the brain using external low-power lasers or by light-emitting diode (LED) placed externally on the head with the light penetrating the skull and reaching brain matter. There is no standard delivery time yet, but in one clinical trial, NIR light was applied three times per week for 6 weeks on eleven brain sites for 10 minutes per site.

🔺When using animal models to test its effectiveness, NILT led to the repair and recovery of damaged brain tissue. In human clinical trials, NILT improved cognitive function, particularly executive functioning and verbal memory, in chronic mild-TBI patients. It also helped improve psychological symptoms consistent with PTSD, anxiety, and depression.

🔹Sleep and mood improvements were also observed as well as a reduction in suicidal thoughts. These neurological and psychological benefits are not immediately observed following the treatment as it takes 1-4 weeks and multiple sessions to notice improvement.

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