What Is Concussion Rehab?
- Concussion rehab is a personally tailored, multidisciplinary treatment protocol for recovery after mild traumatic brain injury (concussion).
- It specifically moves beyond passive rest by actively engaging the brain and central nervous system in recovery to optimize healing in a timely fashion.
Common Therapies Used
- Vestibular therapy
- Vision rehabilitation
- Cognitive training
- Movement and proprioceptive treatment
- Lifestyle and individualized habit strategies
Goals of Post-Concussion Rehab
- Rewire the brain via neuroplasticity and improve overall body function
- Reduce symptom burden
- Restore meaningful daily function
- Improve performance and endurance
- Optimize cognitive processing
- Enhance sleep and recovery
Evidence & Clinical Research Validating Rehabilitation & Treatment
- Active concussion rehab therapies speed recovery more than extended rest for persistent concussion symptoms.
- Vestibular rehab reduces dizziness and improves balance with no side effects.
- Vision rehab improves visual symptoms and reduces headaches post-concussion.
- Cognitive training boosts attention and memory recovery.
- Movement and proprioceptive therapy can enhance balance and gait.
- Lifestyle changes and habits support symptom reduction and recovery over time.
- Early concussion rehab leads to better, faster outcomes.
Combining concussion rehab therapies is more effective than single treatments alone, which is why integrative therapeutic approaches will always provide better results.
Who Benefits from Concussion Rehab?
You may be a candidate for concussion rehab if the following symptoms last beyond 3–4 weeks:
- Persistent headaches
- Dizziness, imbalance, motion sensitivity
- Light or sound sensitivity
- Blurred vision, reading difficulty
- Brain fog, memory/attention issues
- Lingering fatigue
- Mood changes (irritability, anxiety)
Populations with Proven Benefits from Therapies and Treatment
- Athletes: Early visual and vestibular therapies = faster return to sport
- Children: Vestibular therapies = improved visuovestibular function and overall function
What Happens in a Rehab Program?
Concussion rehab programs should always be customized, but typically include:
Vestibular Therapy for Concussion Rehab
- Targets – Dizziness, balance issues, motion intolerance, and sensitivity to busy visual environments
- Interventions – Often includes gaze stabilization therapies, habituation exercises, gait/balance drills, and integrated visual modalities
There’s a strong evidence base in sports medicine and concussion recovery, but the clinical research shows that all concussions should include vestibular evaluations to diagnose underlying vestibular issues and form personalized treatment protocols.
Visual & Oculomotor Rehab
- Targets – Eye tracking, focusing, vergence deficits (like convergence insufficiency)
- Interventions – Visual fixation, smooth pursuit, saccades, optokinetic reflexes, and convergence/divergence eye exercises
Often paired with vestibular therapy as an integrated approach to treatment, visual and oculomotor rehab is quickly becoming one of the most exciting areas of rehabilitation for concussions and mild traumatic brain injuries.
Cognitive & Neurocognitive Training
- Targets – Memory, processing speed, attention, executive function, and visual integration
- Interventions – Memory aids, cognitive-motor dual tasks, strategy coaching
Concussion rehab exercises consisting of cognitive training, neurofeedback therapies, memory aids, strategy coaching, and dual-task exercises improve attention, processing speed, executive function, and memory after concussion.
Manual Therapy & Neck Work
- Targets – Cervical strain, whiplash, tension
- Interventions – Soft tissue work, joint mobilization, neck retraining
Studies show manual therapy combined with physical therapy and vestibular rehab provides clinical benefits for neck dysfunction and associated visual and vestibular symptoms after concussion.
Lifestyle & Pacing Strategies
- Includes – Sleep hygiene, screen limits, return-to-work plans, stress modulation
- Essential for long-term progress and symptom stabilization
As you can see, concussion rehab often entails an array of integrated therapies and treatments to optimize brain function, improve neurological capacity, and optimize recovery.
What to Expect from Concussion Rehab
Evaluation & Custom Concussion Rehab Planning
- Starts with a detailed personal history
- Includes in-depth structural and neurological assessments of balance, vision, vestibular, cognitive, and cervical function
- Build a personalized goal-based concussion rehab plan
Frequency & Progression
- 1–2 sessions/week + individualized home exercise programs
- Gradual increase in complexity and duration of tasks over time, pending symptoms
Typical Concussion Rehab Timeline
- Noticeable improvements often occur within days and even weeks of treatment
- Full recovery may take months, depending on the following factors:
- Previous history of head injuries and concussions
- Symptom duration/severity
- Systems involved (vestibular, visual, cognitive)
- Rehab start delays
- Home exercise adherence
The best concussion rehab protocols and programs should always be tailored to the individual and take an integrative approach to healing, as no two injuries are ever the same. Furthermore, patients often require a variety of treatments to find the healing they’re after.
How Concussion Rehab Helps the Brain Heal
- Neuroplastic activation – Drives reorganization and recovery
- Systemic brain and body treatment – Tackles root vestibular, visual, and cognitive causes
- Dampens inflammation – Helps to decrease the neuro-inflammatory cascade and improve immune function
- Symptom reduction – Eases daily burdens and enhances function
- Life restoration – Enables return to school, work, sports, and social life
Why Personalized Concussion Rehab Matters
Before you get started with care, know that not all concussion rehab is created equally. While a lot of providers may state they know how to treat concussions, it’s important to find practitioners with experience treating head injuries.
Your concussion rehab program should be customized and tailored to your needs and examination findings, not just a cookie-cutter approach that has worked for others in the past. At The Neural Connection, we’ve seen far too many patients come to our office with cookie-cutter approaches that haven’t worked, only to uncover missed opportunities and findings that have allowed us to help so many who haven’t been helped in other offices.
You deserve to be treated like the individual that you are, with integrative approaches to help you update your brain’s software and get back to living your life to the fullest!
So if you’re still struggling with post-concussion symptoms, we would love to see how we can help you!
Check out our 120+ 5-Star Google Reviews ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ to see what our patients say about us!
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*Note: The information provided in this article is for educational purposes only and does not constitute a doctor-patient relationship. Patients should consult their medical provider or primary care physician before trying any remedies or therapies at home.
