Max,

Welcome to Neurotalk. Sorry to hear of your struggles. They sound par for the course.

First bit of advice. Disregard the ImPACT test. It has absolutely no value as predictor of your ability to tolerate another impact.

I suggest you sit down and write a list of every time you have had any impact or serious jarring to your head. Only a very small percentage of concussions are ever 'diagnosed concussions.' Most concussions are just shaken off and forgotten.

Any Loss of Consciousness (LOC) is a concussion. Any ding that makes you feel strange or have a head ache, even if not until a day later, is a concussion. Any bump that leaves a metallic or bloody taste in your mouth is a concussion.

Then there is the cumulative effect of subconcussive impacts. The inadvertent body jolts (checks) that shake the head are subconcussive impacts.

There are lots of people here with good ability to help. If you could tell us about your symptoms without complicating them with an attempt to explain/diagnose them, we should be able to help you. Many of us need a simpler explanation as the concussed brain does not process complex sentences/ideas well.

It sounds like you are at least open to the risk of your future. A year/season of fun is not worth the risk of a lifetime. Once the brain has reached it critical mass of impacts and sub-concussive impacts to cause prolonged symptoms, the risk of future impacts get multiplied.

You should be focusing on getting symptoms free and staying that way.

And yes, I had to retire from sports during my sophomore year. I took up distance running/cross-country during the spring of my junior year and did quite well without making my PCS symptoms worse. But, no more contact or risk of contact sports.

As a field sport athlete, you should have some basic conditioning for distance running. Running without jarring your head or causing head aches will be your challenge. You can try running with foam ear plugs in to hear the impact of your foot plant. Finding the right shoes and foot plant and gait to minimize the head jarring will go a long way toward being able to continue in competition.

A sport that is wide open for girls is rowing/crew. An ergo/rowing machine is low impact and fabulous for body conditioning. There are computerized recording machines that show your conditioning that allow you to compete for crew scholarships without ever being in a shell/boat. It is a great team sport with a chance to compete in gorgeous water settings.

So, tell us about your individual symptoms and hopefully we c an help you understand how to deal with them. There is no quick cure or single treatment that resolves them all. PCS is just a slow healing process that requires discipline.

My best to you.