Health and Psychology

There's a very inspiring article in Lemondrop about Jenna Phillips, a personal trainer in Los Angeles.  She had a head injury in 2000.  The field of head injury evaluation and rehabilitation has improved substantially in understanding what happens in a head injury and what anticipated recovery should be. 

In the 1980's the vast majority of individual were told that concussion was "mild," that recovery would occur in weeks or months, and that any residual symptoms were more psychological than physical. 

In the 1990's begining research on neuroplasticity in the brain was changing the expected outcomes for stroke and spinal cord patients.  The concept that a concussion was a "brain injury" was starting to take hold.  The idea that recovery was completed in a few months was starting to be challenged.  Ideas about mid-brain injury and hormonal cascade from injury resulting in neuroendocrine difficulties such as late onset diabetes, thyroid, or other hormonal problems, and the impact of stress hormones leading to heart attack or stroke following head injury were showing up in research.

By 2005 ideas about neuroplasticity were incorporated into some mainstream treatment programs for head injury with focus on managing headaches, tinnitus, dystonias, and nerve injuries with neural feedback.  Head injury was considered brain injury and concussions were not discussed as "minor" except to document level of brain injury.  Monitoring for seizures for 18 months post injury, monitoring for neuroendocrine and neuro-opthamalogical disorders was occuring in some areas with trauma centers, and rehabilitation was focusing on long term recovery with estimates of brain improvement occuring for decades.

Today, technological advances in evaluation and rehabilitation allow for many more people to significantly improve their functioning following head injury.  While Jenna Phillips' story is inspiring, it is no longer unique and represents what is expected for the type of injury she had.  Evaluation and treatment is essential in helping people to recover.