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Page 24 | Abby's Magazine - www.AbbysMag.com Today there is a great deal of a en on in the media and athle cs in general focusing on concussions. Many athletes are sustaining mul ple concussions and are consequently losing major parts of their seasons as well as having major challenges in their lives while recovering. Unfortunately, for many this recovery is incomplete resul ng in a loss of focus and concentra on, which is o en followed in later years with major loss of mental func on. As athletes become bigger, stronger and faster, collisions between themselves have become more devasta ng causing more frequent, severe concussions. In addi on, improved performance has increased the speed in many sports. In ice hockey, the force of body contact and the increased speed of the puck are more devasta ng o en resul ng in severe concussions. In baseball, the average speed of the fast ball has increased significantly with more frequent, serious concussions for both ba ers and catchers hit by pitches. In basketball, the speed has led to more height in jumps and more forceful collisions again resul ng in more severe concussions. In football and soccer, athletes are bigger, stronger and faster resul ng in more severe injuries and more frequent, severe concussions. One of the interes ng sta s cs I recently saw was the number of concussions sustained by high school age girl soccer players and the growing concern about how their school work is affected. It is very sad that, with all the medical advances in the ability to image the brain and see what happens during a concussion, there is very li le progress on how to treat concussions, and how to prevent the long term degenera on in the brain that shows up later in life. Massage and Cranial/Structural therapy are not appropriate during the acute stages of concussion recovery. You need to have a doctor's wri en release before beginning treatment. The following are two concussion cases that I have treated recently. One boy was a doctor referral, and the second was brought to me a er his mother had given up on what the doctors were doing since her son was ge ng worse. Case Study #1: Jim was referred by his fourth neurologist who was searching for anything that could help. Jim had had three concussions in the last year. One was from being hit by a friend at a party who had been drinking too much, another had been from walking into the corner of the cabinet that he had not seen, and the third had been from a whiplash injury. Jim was a college student who had not been able to read or concentrate since the whiplash concussion, and his short- term memory was dras cally impaired to the point that he couldn't remember his appointment mes and was not able to drive. Jim arrived at his first appointment with a headache. A standing structural evalua on revealed a significant structural distor on, a reverse curvature of the neck, head pped to one side, and jamming of the atlas/axis and occiput with reduced range of mo on. The Quick Release Technique was applied which released trigger points, reduced the swelling and ischemia in the major muscles of the neck and shoulders, opened the acupuncture meridians and mobilized the occiput. Jim's headache pain was reduced by 70%. I then did the Cranial/Structural Core Distor on Releases, so ssue C1 release, and a so ssue Head, Neck and Shoulder protocol to further release the swelling, ischemia, inflamma on, myofascial holding pa erns, adhesions and scar ssue resul ng from his injuries. Jim le feeling much be er with increased range of mo on and no headache. At Jim's second session he was having some headaches with less frequency, dura on and intensity, and his ver go was less. He s ll could not focus clearly and short-term memory was s ll impaired. Structural evalua on showed significant improvement, less head lt, and the reverse curvature was reduced. Compression tes ng of his cranium using kinesiology revealed swelling inside the cranium and an imbalance between the two temporal bones. A specialized Frontal/Occipital decompression was able to pump the excess cerebral spinal fluid out of the cranium, and the temporal bones were mobilized and synchronized. A er the treatment, the fuzziness was less and no ver go. Effective, Non-Invasive TREATMENT FOR CONCUSSIONS By Don McCann, MA, LMT, LMHC, CSETT