confuused said

<i've heard people post on here that "once concussed, always concussed", but i think that Drs. Mickey Collins' and Ted Carrick's words carry more weight. >

Mickey Collins, Ph.D. has no evidence that his 'return to play' protocol causes a complete recovery. The 'complete recovery' criteria are never explained. Reading the context of such comments implies the 'completely recovered' means they are not symptomatic and appear to have all of their skills back to normal.

My "once concussed, always concussed" comment means that no matter how well one recovers, their brain will always show evidence of the concussion. It may not be readily obvious but there will be residual damage.

It will be most obvious after another concussion or sub-concussive impact. Their brain will be more sensitive to any impact or other stress. The science on this is decades old.

The key return to play criteria used by Mickey Collins is likely avoiding 'second impact syndrome' which can be deadly and regaining full coordination, judgment and executive functioning such that the athlete is not a risk due to these limited skills.

Michael Collins, Ph.D. was still in undergraduate school in 1989. He has his Ph.D. in neuropsychology.

Ted Carrick is a D.C. (doctor of chiropractic) with his Ph.D. in clinical neurology and has taught clinical neurology at two different chiropractic colleges. His goal is to restore lost function, not to specifically heal the brain.

Keep in mind that Collins specializes in sports rehabilitation. His goal is to return athletes to play. Carrick has had a specialty practice limited to the diagnosis and treatment of neurological disorders. They do not treat these athletes decades later, long after their athletic careers are over.

The anecdotes they offer never demonstrate 'complete recovery.' They may demonstrate 'return of function.' There is a big difference. Younger athletes have a better chance of 'return of function' that older subjects. The young brain is more pliable, especially up to about 25 years old. The older brain has a more difficult time relearning skills, both due to simple age and the cumulative effects of years of stresses and even minor, unnoticed injuries.

I have far more faith in Julian Bailes, M.D. and Robert Cantu, M.D. Their experience goes back decades and they are involved with research of athletes injured decades ago.

Does this mean that I believe there is no recovery from concussion? Not at all. Recovery is two fold. 1. Physical recovery from rest and retraining the brain 2. Functional recovery from learning new and different ways to accomplish tasks such as memory tricks, etc. to make up for skills that may be permanently lost due to the injury.

Either one alone will leave the person with a limited recovery.