Hi all

I've been doing ok for a while, no relapse of symptoms or head bumps.

A few weeks back, I after turning the lights off before going to bed, I walked into an open door while also wearing noisce-cancelling headphones....

Next minute, I've hit the edge of the door with my left knee and my face almost simultaneously, my left headphone pad is knocked off by the door and I've instinctively whipped my head back.

I was trying to re-assure myself immediately afterwards that this wasn't a concussion, if my recollection is correct, the door edge missed my head and glanced past my left cheek.

Since my concussion in 2015, I've had much more definite/harder impacts than this, which haven't resulted in further concussion or PCS.


I've been trying to get some logical perspective on this event by listening to various concussiion podcasts that describe findings from multiple studies into measured hits in American football players. These findings mirror what Mark has previously said on here, that concussions in players were only observed from impacts of 70-100G.

They found the majority (70%) of ‘hard hits’ over an average season are less than 25G and intentionally heading a football is around 20G, while a neck injury/re-injury requires only 4-5G.


They also discussed whether one concussion leads to more susceptibilty down the line. Studies into ATP levels in the brain following concussion indicate biological recovery from injury occurs after 4-6 weeks. Research has apparently found that if a person receives another concussion (i.e. another 70G + impact) outside of this 4-6 week recovery window, there was no difference between this subsequent injury and in someone receiving their first concussion



Another interesting thing they described is the potential for 'micro-glial priming', where, due to previous injury, the brain tissues remain on high alert, launching an inflammation response to search for and clean up any damaged brain cells - even when no damage has occurred.


They also discussed research into concussions, the power of the mind and the Nocebo Effect. In one clinical drug trial; participants were presented with information on undesirable drug side-effects beforehand. Up to 31% of the Placebo Group experienced negative physical symptoms due to having been pre-warned and negative expectation.

They also mention how increased media / social media coverage of concussions and CTE may be amplifying this Nocebo Effect in people who receive very minor bumps, then experience PCS.

Other factors include mistrust in doctors, medical misdiagnoses, pathologizing of a condition, negative medical prognoses during initial consultation, 'social contagion' and existing mental health issues - anxiety, OCD, neurotic traits.

Nocebo Effects in Concussion: Is All That Is Told Beneficial... : American Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation


We expect something to happen due to past experiences / social conditioning and we get what we ask for - in my case, an unwanted gift just before Christmas that has left me unable to stay present.


There’s no way I hit that door with my head at anything even close to 20G, yet I'm still struggling almost 2.5 weeks on and definitely experiencing one of the worst setbacks I've had in recent years.

Some days I believe I've not had another concussion, that it's just an emotional hijack of my nervous system and I start returning to baseline, other days, my symptoms return and it seems like I have injured my brain