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We often link concussions to sports, and the athletes that play them both amateur and professional, but every day mishaps can be the cause of a mild brain injury. Up until now, assessment and treatment for those not connected to sports was a bit of a gamble.
It could have happened to anyone. but in June 2012 it was Lianne Scheers who slipped on a wet floor at the Langton High School where she teaches. Dizzy, nauseous and with a pounding headache she went to hospital where she was diagnosed with a concussion. 15-months later, she is still plagued with symptoms.
Scheers says, “I couldn’t drive my children to their sporting events. I wasn’t able to work. I struggle in the home setting doing the tasks i normally would do… It’s just been tremendous how it’s affected my life. My memory has been a problem.
Dr. Diana Velikonja of Hamilton Health Sciences says, “probably upwards of 85 to 90 plus percent will recover, and most of these injuries will recover in 72-hours to 10 or 12 days.” However, of the hundreds of thousands of mild brain injuries each year, that 10-per cent have lingering, often debilitating symptoms.
Velikonja says, “there are some individuals, healthcare professionals, who didn’t consider them to be much of an injury… others who had potential misconceptions about the injury, so basically people were not receiving good, consistent treatment or assessment and treatment.” Velikonja is a neuropsychologist at Hamilton Health Sciences. She was part of a 6-person team who examined the latest scientific evidence, and crafted guidelines for better assessment and treatment of people with concussions.
According to Velikonja, “if they were misdiagnosed, or given misinformation, they could go years with symptoms and have significant functional problems, lose jobs, or have difficulty at work.”
Lianne is being treated at Hamilton’s acquired brain injury clinic, and is now making a gradual return to work, but she’s shocked at the aftermath of a simple mishap.
