Kelly Whiteside, writing for the USA Today, put together a great article discussing what we believe is the most important aspect of concussion recovery – return to school and academia.
Brianna is a typical high school athlete, not a future college star, just a kid whose life revolves around the sport of the season. Her story has become all too familiar. She was medically cleared to return to sports too soon and continued to take a full course load at school. The mental demands of the classroom slowed her recovery as well. Addressing the roomful of her peers on this November evening, Brianna describes what life has been like since suffering her first concussion in February when she took a knee to the head during a basketball game.
“It’s been nine months, and I still have headaches every single day I wake up. I don’t want to go to school. I barely get out of bed. My mom is constantly trying to get me up, and I just don’t want to get up. I’m late for school, which is no fun. I get really dizzy when I get up from a chair, and I am also tired all the time. I sleep for 16 hours, and I’m still exhausted.”
What is also typical of Brianna is that those that have been concussed across the nation are experiencing the same thing she is, but rather than say anything or do anything, they are struggling through this process. What she is describing above is really no more that most high school kids deal with every single day, however her issues are DIRECTLY related to concussions. How many other high school aged kids also have these issues do to head trauma?
Here are some more quotes from Brianna (read full story HERE);
“After my concussion, I was stressed about everything. I was scared to go back to school because all of the work. School was really hard. My mom had to help me with a lot of my homework. When you go to school and try to concentrate with a headache, it’s one of the hardest things you have to do. Your mind starts wandering, and you have to pull yourself back and it makes it worse. No one really knows what you’re going through because it’s all in your head, and they see you and they think you’re fine.”
“The hardest part of a concussion is dealing with school. You’re trying to do all this stuff, and it’s chaotic, and you don’t really want to be around people because they’re loud and obnoxious. When you get home, you’re supposed to do your homework and you just want to sleep. Then I found Dr. Brooks. We slowly started to fix some of these issues.I’ve been able to rearrange my schedule, and my teachers are very understanding.”
The Concussion Blog 