CONCUSSION REHABILITATION INTERVENTIONS

Abstract

Sports-related concussions (SRC) are a common injury among athletes. Despite our growing understanding of concussion pathophysiology, comprehensive rehabilitation programs remain a clinical challenge. The accepted view of SRC rehabilitation emphasizes physical and cognitive rest. However, some conflicting studies report rest may facilitate prolonged symptoms. In this review article, we report on alternative SRC rehabilitation strategies to address the complex symptom variations, including physical activity, neuro-visual training, vestibular training, music therapy, speech-language therapy, and hyperbaric oxygen chamber therapy. The mass of published works supports the utility of these alternative therapies to aid recovery, but more research is vital to clarifying these relationships. In this review, we explore the relationships between symptoms and therapies. As there is a growing body of evidence to support these alternative therapies, many questions remain when concerning the role these alternative methods play in the bigger picture of standardizing a thorough SRC rehabilitation program.