Recovery:

Head injuries recover slowly.  Eighty percent of improvement comes within the first six months, with the other 20% taking up to another 18 months.  Two thirds of patients will spontaneously recover with time alone, but they must be patient.  If improvement is not noted within the first six months, or it plateaus at a point where there is still cognitive disruption, then further intervention is necessary.

Mild Head Injury Treatment

Diagnosis:

Traditionally mild head injuries are diagnosed by reviewing the history, mental status examination (testing how your brain works by asking about 10 minutes of questions on memory, etc.) and neuropsychological testing.  There are pros and cons to this testing.  While it is helpful in determining how the brain performs cognitive tasks, some say it is not sensitive enough for the mild cases or in people with high IQs.  In almost every case, litigation is involved.  When neuropsychological testing is used, invariably two different neuropsychologists will offer the opposite professional opinions based on the same data.  This suggests there is a lot of subjectivity to the interpretation of the results.

Cognitive Compensatory Skills Retraining:

While not treating the underlying problem, learning "tricks" to help maneuver around the deficits can make a huge difference for those patients who practice and use the compensatory skills.  Examples include how to slow down your processing speed to gain accuracy or writing down and organizing things that need to be done and remembered.

Advanced Testing and Treatment:

If the traditional strategies are not helping, the use of more cutting edge diagnostic and treatment modalities should be attempted.

What kind of testing is done?

Computerized brainwaves are collected and evaluated for patterns which may otherwise be undetected.  A cap (like the old-time bathing cap) with sensors inside to collect brainwaves is placed on the head.  This is known as Quantitative or Digital EEG.  Various cognitive tasks are performed during testing.  The data is then analyzed, processed and submitted to databases for comparison to an age-matched population.  It can also be sent for a Discriminant Analysis to determine the probability that this particular pattern is caused by an acceleration / deceleration injury.  The testing is non-invasive and only collects brainwaves - no electricity is ever put into the brain.

EEG Neurofeedback:

This may be one of several treatment options, depending upon the results of the Digital EEG testing.  If applicable, and chosen as a treatment by the patient, this therapy consists of retraining the brainwaves back to a more normal pattern.  The patient sits, with sensors on the scalp, in front of a computer screen.  The sensors monitor the brain's electrical activity and transmit it to the computer.  The brainwaves are converted into pictures - like an F14 Fighter Jet or moving bars - and the patient, for example, has to fly the plane or enlarge the bar.  This is accomplished through focus and concentration without the use joysticks or control pads.  When the brain initially masters the computer game, the training parameters are made more difficult.  Throughout the training process the brain is challenged until it plateaus, thereby refocusing and reshaping the brainwaves into the desired patterns and ameliorating the patient's symptoms.  This learning process is similar to what the brain has to do when it first learns to ride a bicycle.  

Initial research, the abstracts of which we published professionally, demonstrate that 78% of patients improve 70% or more.