Or what about running and jumping on hard pavement with inadequate footwear like skateboard shoes? Ive read that each time you land its like a nail gun to your brain and that long distance running shrinks your brain matter. i know not to trust everything i read online but the source seemed reputable anf the guy claimed to have a phd in neuroscience.

Neither of those activities are subconcussive impacts. Stop reading foolishness.

If you ran or jumped hard enough to send an impact to your brain, you would traumatize your back, pelvis, hip socket, knee, and more.

If you did it running long distance, you would have heel bruises and possibly stress fractures in your shins. Modern running shoes reduce the likelihood of such an impact to near zero.

I was a distance runner in high school and college. I ran 50 to 100 miles a week. I ran in hiking boots in the morning on my paper route for 3 years in high school. My running shoes were Tigers, the predecessor to Asic running shoes. Tiger had no shock absorbing ability. I had to wear heal cups to prevent heal bruises. Never caused any problems, headaches, neck issues, etc.

Ben,

If all the activities you list here can cause concussions the whole worlds population meaning every person is concussed, don’t forget being born with a concussion due to our heads being forced through a small cervix.

Relax a bit and force yourself to stop reading about concussions. I would take a guess that you are searching to find simpler excuses to what you know is really runaway anxiety.

I would say all of us here have experienced anxiety from our injuries, it is beatable but you have to face it head on and not allow the fear of your foe to overcome you.

Bud

Don't listen to the doubters here. I have the same problem as You (albeit not as extreme). Anytime I have a minor head impact (such as bumping my head on the back on the fridge, I have a relapse in my symptoms. I have seen many other people post about this here. It is not anxiety i can tell you that 1st hand bc i am not a ** and this is a serious issue. Anxiety cannot cause you to have severe brain fog, numbness and exercise intolerance that I have.

I got accidentally headbutted in the chin a few minutes ago while trying to move my spouse in for a kiss. As I was pulling her towards me, she slightly lost her balance and fell forward - whacking me in the chin with her forehead. We were both standing and it was from around a full arm's length away that she traveled. My chin hurts enough that I'm icing it down right now.

Is this enough of an impact to worry about such as possible concussion? Or just an 'everyday impact'?

We're both roughly 150 lbs each; her distance traveled was around 2 feet.

Don't try to calculate a concussion by some wild estimation of impact force. That is anxiety talking.

Chins are cushioned by the TMJ before they pass the force to the brain.


What difference would a specific diagnosis make?

Partly anxiety and part curiosity on the science. For example, I remember reading of your example of a bowling ball dropped from two feet. I have trouble mentally gauging analogous situations to other more common examples like two people's heads bumping together. My spouse's head obviously does not weigh anywhere near a bowling ball but her body weight is 150 lbs and she traveled the same distance as a bowling ball but in a different direction and perhaps speed. Basketball and soccer players seem to get concussions jumping a few feet and clashing heads. Not sure if my situation could be in the same category.

We have some socially distant outdoor group sports that have resumed; trying to gauge whether to rest up and take it easy or continue as usual. I know I'm not talking to doctors and wouldn't suggest that. But I enjoy hearing of people's experiences and thoughts nonetheless.

That's interesting regarding TMJ cushioning a blow before damage is done to the brain, by the way, and something I didn't know. Boxers seem to target the chin for "knock outs" and are often successful. Pros seem to take a lot of jabs to the chin without being knock out and perhaps not concussed, and again I have a tough time making analogous examples of force. A headbutt to the chin is something I haven't really observed, although I know headbutting in general seems to be a potentially dangerous move in pro fighting.

Nobody who knows anything about head trauma tries to treat the 'impact force estimation.' They treat symptoms. Absent symptoms, there is nothing to treat.

Soccer players smash heads as they compete to head the ball opposite directions. They smash their heads together with force. They do not just bump their head.

Don't look for symptoms. The brain will gladly manifest symptoms when you look for them. It can play back symptoms from traumas from years ago.

This is not "part curiosity on the science." I've seen these excuses many times before. This is OCD and anxiety. The OCD says "I must understand." as a justification for the anxiety.

Your biggest battle is not with occasional head bumps. It is with the anxious and irrational thoughts that are triggered with every perceived head bump.

Did your wife hurt her head? Get a concussion? She took a more direct hit than you. But, your jaw movement absorbed some of the impact and reduced the G force to both of you.

Boxers have their jaws clinched so they are like a solid part of the head.
Their concussions are mostly rotational. Those are very dangerous and traumatic.

Most people move in to kiss gently & slowly, even if one trips and falls forward not enough speed/force.

From our sticky threads up near the top..-
https://www.neurotalk.org/traumatic-...nfo-links.html