Should I be skating?
 

I am a 21 year old 6 foot male weighing 170 pounds. I suffer from post concussion syndrome caused by a lifetime of contact sports (quit when I was 17) and a reckless crazy childhood.


Some thing I have been doing lately is skating. Are used to play hockey so I am very good at it and there is not much risk for me falling and hitting my head if I’m just skating alone in circles on a rink. What I am worried about is that lately I have been skating more intensely and picking up the speed as my body gets more used to it, today I went for a long skate while I was skating very fast and intensely.This kind of skating involves a lot of head swaying and hard foot stomping(similar to running) and is very rigorous, your head gets jarred and moves around quite a lot. When I stopped skating today I felt kind of sick, a little headachy and a out of it.

Is this causing additional damage to my brain or should I continue doing this? The pros are it helps my anxiety to sweat and get my heart beat up but obviously I won’t do this If it’s causing additional brain damage. Maybe I should go to the hospital?

Thanks a lot

Wear a helmet, be careful?....I have not skated in over 14 years, the fun and freedom I understand!
I would not recommend to anyone learning to skate after a head injury but if you know how to well I cant see harm. IMO

BenW,

The Buffalo Protocol says to limit physical exertion to a pulse rate that is 10% below your return of symptoms threshold.

Take a FitBit or similar system for tracking your pulse. Record your peak pulse and any symptoms you have afterward. Once you find your 'return of symptoms' pulse rate, moderate your physical effort. Over time, weeks or even months, your 'return of symptoms' pulse should increase as your brain gets used to a higher pulse and blood pressure.

Thanks for the response. Yah I’ll take it easy for a few days, hopefully it’s one of those things where I just got a little symptom flare up and if I build up myself from continuing to do it I’ll be able to skate without feeling bad after.

Thanks for the response. Yah I probably just pushed myself too hard too fast since I hadn’t skated in a while. I’ll go back next week and go a bit less intense, see if that helps. The first few times I tried skating I had no issues but when I took it to the next level of effort it gave some problems. Just need to build up gradually.