Does exercising help the PCS go away or "tame" the effects of it? What do you think?

I do not think exercise helps in the first few months of healing but think that it might have some benefits later on if it is done gradually. From my own personal observations, it has to be exercise that is not stressful. My son had a long convelescence with PCS, and then gradually swam, played tennis and is now running cross country and a little weight training. He seems to come home bright eyed at 6PM, and he leaves the house at 7AM. On the weekends I make sure he rests alot. I think you need to provide rest and alot of laughs in between. This may sound silly but I do really think that it is the anxiety that exhausts him. Perhaps the exercise can increase the mental stamina in PCS? I really do not know but hope all can get back to it because it is so important to quality of life.
Nancy

Nancy is right. Its according to the kind of exercise you do.

I tried to do a light exercise routine, and it just wasn't something I could do
for the longest time.

But walking and doing some small things was okay. I am in PT now and even that I have to watch how much I can do. I do it for a totally different thing.

My Post concussion was about a year ago, and I'm having health problems,
and its just making things worse.

Donna

Once you have had any kind of significant head injury you cannot really think of yourself as the same person that you were. The things that normal people can do, and the kinds of things that are good for normal people may not be a good idea for you. My first head injury was in May of 2000. I have just re-injured myself, but even before that I found that I was ultra-sensitive to any sort of shock. Before my first injury I used to run on a semi-regular basis. It was my main form of cardiovascular exercise. I have yet to be able to run for more than 20 to 30 seconds at a time. If I try I experience unbearable migraine headaches and worse than normal memory difficulties and mental fog. And this is even years after the initial injury. I have been skeptical of my own conclusions and have tried lots of times to run, but the result is always the same. It's not the exercise. It's the shock. Just like I can't jump or even spin around too quickly. It is also difficult for me to go on boat rides.

My theory is that the damaged-but-somewhat-recovered brain is a fragile group of connections of fine spiderweb-like filaments stuck in a blob of jello or silly putty. It doesn't take much to break the sensitive electrical connections. Destroying even that flimsy chance of a semi-normal existence. I walk or ride a stationary bike for cardio. Anything else, even a stationary rowing machine or a step machine for instance seems way too risky to me. And something like tennis? OMG. Or really any team sport like soccer or baseball or (god forbid) football. That's a re-injury just waiting to happen. I can pretty much guarantee that it will happen. It's not a matter of if, but of when. Hopefullly most of you already know that the more head injuries that you accumulate, the more likely the next one becomes.

In addition to avoiding shock I have also (mostly) stopped drinking alcohol, even in very small amounts. Although that I am far less sure about as far as being effective or necessary. When someone asks me why I don't drink, I have to launch into my head injury story. Sometimes I tell them that my doctor recommended that I never drink alcohol again, but that isn't true. I just read about it somewhere on the internet (although I cannot find the reference now) and the proposed mechanism seemed plausible to me.

Having said all this, I do realize that some people seem to recover 100% of their pre-injury abilities within the first year post-injury. In that case maybe the new connections are not so fragile and maybe it is okay to jump up and down all you want, even to jump rope or to sprint. But I would wait until I no longer had any symptoms of PCS before even thinking about testing such limits. Just my .02. As always, YMMV.

To Gojirason,
Thanks for that exeellent reply! Yes, I think you are right. It really depends on the prior injuries, but I do think the jostling seems to be the issue. My son seems to be O.K with cross country right now and has not had a problem yet but he will not go back to wrestling. We are painfully aware that the next injury will further set him back. It does not seem to matter whether it is years later or not, the brain is still vulnerable. All input from others helps us make a wise decision.
Nancy

I definitely think exercise helps. Exercise, regular sleep, relaxation/meditation, and lots of red or green tea.

I didn't feel like exercising for quite a while after my worst concussion. In fact, I remember being stunned and confused as I tried to walk to school the day after the accident. By the time I got down the stairs and to the corner I felt like I was going to throw up. Gradually though, as I began to feel better (and this took several weeks), I started running again. Any sort of cardiovascular exercise is going to help your circulation and hence is probably good for your brain. I'm not so keen on any sort of movement or exercise that requires a lot of frenetic or sudden head movements, though.

Running is perfect for me, but of course you want to listen to what your own body tells you, and I'd wait a while before doing any kind of exercise after you've had an accident. Often times, the best I feel all day is right after one of my runs.
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About me:
I'll write an intro later, but in short I had moderately bad PCS for probably around 2 years after I was involved in a bike/car accident.

It's amazing how fragile one feels after a bad concussion, isn't it? Every movement is made with the utmost care, and you half expect something to loom up out of nowhere to snuff you out.

I would never have thought, nearly 3 years after my accident, that I would be worried about jumping rope... but of course that is the first thing I thought about when I first picked up my sisters jumprope. I'm happy to say jumping rope didn't negatively impact me at all, but I wouldn't have even considered it just a few weeks or months after my accident.

Hi e-head, I find your posts very interesting and thoughful. I think it is probably best not to exercise for the first few month after pcs. I was a little to eager to get back to bike riding and tried to use my trainer, but it just increased my headaches, so I finally gave up. Now I'm hoping to be ready by next spring. Walking seems ok. My head is still very sensitive and I am very cautious. It get's to be so all-consumming at times.

I'm looking forward to hear your story as I was also in a bike/car crash.

I can personally attest to the fact even the most trivial of blows to my head now can bring back all the PCS symptoms. That's why I'm on this board now. I suffered a fairly serious concussion years ago (6 or 7 ?), which left me with PCS for somewhere between 2 and 3 years. I was fortunate in that it seemed to entirely clear up. I was really back to my old self for all intents and purposes... running, and even jump roping (an activity I started with a great deal of trepidation, let me tell you). I had finally managed to move beyond that incredible sense of fragility and lack of self-confidence that is the emotional side of PCS. I certainly wasn't going to ride a roller coaster, mind you, but I'd climb a tree... even play tennis, as you mention.

Anyway, that sense of fragility came back dramatically after I experienced the most trivial of bumps to my head. I was cleaning under the sink and came up too fast, knocking my head in the process. That was 8 or 9 days ago. Unbelievably to me (this was the most trivial of hits to the head... something I wouldn't even have thought about 10 years ago), all my PCS symptoms came back. For the first day or two after the accident I was somewhat in denial, I just couldn't believe such a trivial hit could have such dramatic consequences.

I don't know if others are like this, but I become really withdrawn and don't want to see any of my friends or family. I think it's fear that they will be able to detect the difference in me, maybe. Or perhaps it's just not wanting to try and put on a good face and be positive about it. I mean... it really, really sucks, and the last thing you feel up to is trying to act like it's no big deal. It's very personal too, and you feel vulnerable and fragile. We live in a competitive world, and if you have intelligent and competitive friends, one might worry about whether they will look at you the same (absurd, I know). If only they knew how you felt.

So, I'm certain that even "recovery" may not always mean "recovery" in the traditional sense of the word, that's for sure. I think recovery in this case means just feeling good again.

The tricky part in all this is trying to balance being cautious with living your life. My concussion forever changed me as a person, I know that. I was always an energetic and "fast" person... now I try and move a little more slowly and deliberately (not slow enough, apparently!). I was always really adventurous and somewhat reckless before. Now I am much more cautious. There are certain things I'll likely never do again... like toss a baseball back and forth, e.g., though I might toss a football with you. I won't ride a roller coaster, but I'll ride the trolly or a tram.

Thankfully I was back to running again almost every day, and I really do feel like this helped. I'm sure there is a wide variety in extent of PCS, and recovery from it, so everyones experience will be different.

So, I think that is the difficult part. Balancing caution with confidence. It's particularly difficult for anyone who has had bad PCS, as it can take a cocky, athletic, confident and reckless person and turn them into a home body!

I'm happy to report that I seem to be getting dramatically better on a daily basis here (which would make sense considering how slight the hit was). If nothing else, we all have a deeper understanding of the fragility of life, that is for sure, and it's certainly easier for me to empathize with people who have been in accidents.

All in all, I think i'm a quieter person now. I've slowed down. In some ways I'm actually more peaceful. I appreciate little things more, like just "feeling good" at any given moment. Isn't that something? Just "feeling good" is something most people take for granted, but it's really quite a gift.

You have a wonderful way of explaining what it is like to live with PCS and how it impacts your life. Sometimes people would say to me "at least you are all right" and I just wanted to scream at them "no, I am not all right", but I never did. I often wished I had broken a leg instead of getting a concussion.