I suffered a concussion 25 days ago hitting the back of my head on a turf surface while playing soccer.

I've been having a bit of sleep trouble the last couple of nights, at least partly due to my mattress caving a little bit and needing to be replaced. I have a new mattress coming in a couple of days but after waking up very early in the morning today, I sat up in bed exhausted and a little bit cranky/frustrated at my inability to sleep.

In my delirious state, I let myself fall backwards onto the bed but held my head up so as not to let it strike the pillow too hard. I made impact with the bed/pillow with the top of my back/bottom of my neck.

I wonder if this could be a problematic type of impact that might impede my recovery. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

jtoronto,

Welcome to NeuroTalk.

Falling back on a bed or pillow should not be a concern for your brain. It may aggravate an upper neck injury that often goes undiagnosed. 80% of concussions have a neck injury component.

Concussions can cause a lots of issues with sleep. But, proper quality sleep at normal sleep times is the most important part of recovery.

Your likely subtle upper neck injury needs consideration. You need to focus on good sleep posture with your spine and neck in a straight alignment. If you are a side sleeper, a thicker pillow to maintain alignment is best. If you sleep on your back, a thin pillow that can be curled up on the side to support your head from rolling off to the side can be good.

If you have inflammation in the upper neck, it can reduce brain blood flow. This can easily cause you to be cranky and foggy brained/delirious.

As I said, the fall to your pillow is not a problem. But, if you get wrapped up in anxiety about every bump and jostle, your sleep will be hampered and your daily stress levels will increase. Both will slow your recovery.

Please feel free to tell us or ask us anything. We have heard it all.

My best to you.

Thank you very much for the response. Very helpful and takes a lot of my mind. I'll focus on improving my sleep.