BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

I would avoid traffic, races, endurance rides, and serious training rides.

Mild trail rides might be different. Or not.

How odd that it takes so long to get a concussion appointment. I'm guessing you will either be recovered or will have required more immediate care before then.

I've had immediate care from a doctor. I was advised to follow up at the clinic. The wait was going to be even longer but someone in the triathlon community was able to pull a few strings and get me in sooner.

My son was kicked in the head while playing goalie for his high school soccer team a few years ago. We were told he was unconscious for about 30 seconds. He went to the hospital, and we were instructed he could not play soccer again until cleared by the concussion folks. We tried, unsuccessfully, to argue that point on his behalf. He felt more or less fine. He REALLY wanted to play, and he seemed normal enough. As it turned out, however, they knew what they were about. He had on and off symptoms--particularly severe headaches, but also some slowed reaction time--for months. He plays the French Horn and that internal pressure didn't help the headaches, but it took him a long time to feel totally normal again. He missed the rest of that soccer season. None of that may be relevant to your situation, but my advice would be to take it easy and slow for a bit.

I would avoid linebackers. Low-slung branches. Large cartoon mallets. Professional wrestlers. And airborne soccer balls, apparently.

Otherwise, if you can avoid the impact, and can handle light and fast movement, knock yourself out. So to speak. OK, that was a bad choice of words, but you know what I mean.

A number of years ago, I took a spill on the jail trail and was knocked unconcious, which I assume meant a concussion. (Not sure of the aboslute medical conditions involved.) I rode home, although still a bit dazed. Only took off the next 3 days as it was thankgiving and was travelling, but jumped right in on normal activities 4 days later (bike commuting, running daily).

I felt the likelyhood of another incident was pretty slim (I think that was my first ever) so saw no reason not to resume normal activities. All of that was determined by Dr. Selfdiagnosis though, and I did not consult anyone else.

When I got hit by a semi truck I took the rest of the day off after I rode home. The next day I stayed in the office. The day after that I was back on the road moving packages. The year before last I took three days off when I landed head first on a rock and split my full face helmet in half. I took a week off from riding downhill while I waited for my leatt brace to arrive via ups.

The moral is that I make poor decisions and you should not follow my example.

I'm in the cburch camp, don't be like us.

Ive found medical professionals tend to give pretty good medical advice.

Interesting juxtaposition because I asked a bunch of triathletes and got pretty much the opposite advice/examples.

Like I said, I asked my dr but I am interested in hearing from other riders too.

Jeff, I am glad your son is okay. Concussions are no joke -- I can't believe how painful this has been.

I was in the pool working out the next day but no flip turns, my swim was less than stellar, and I couldn't stand the swimcap.

My advice -- no activity for around 7 days. Preferably a lot of sleep. Light/minor concussions kill more people than severe ones due to some side affects of concussion later.

I recall that my daughter got a mild concussion when she was about 12. To get into ANY sort of school sport the next school year, she had to complete a fairly extensive set of mental tests, some on paper, some on computer, designed to assess recovery. And this was like eight months after her injury. I'll see if I can get more details, but I think the short answer is see if there is some similar type of assessment available to you.

i was once punched in the face so hard i was knocked unconscious for 15 minutes or so. i don't remember anything for about an hour long period. i refused going to the hospital because i didn't want to have to sit there for another 4 hours.

i went to bed that night. no symptoms ever. i probably raced my bike two days afterwards. this is just an anecdote about most likely being concussed.

To figure out what is best, you might want to look for results from studies about the effects of returning to athletic activity after concussion. For example, a cursory Google search found this: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/16/sports-activity-after-a-concussion-slows-recovery/. (The basic idea of that study: More athletic activity = slower recovery; the more time off to heal, the better.)

That fits with everything I experienced when I had a head injury. From my personal experience and the medical stuff I've heard:

1. Let yourself rest, or make yourself rest if resting doesn't come naturally to you. If your body is telling you, "Hey, I'd really like to sleep for about 17 hours straight today," you should probably just listen to it and not feel guilty about it. That doesn't mean you can't do any athletic activity (assuming your doctor says it's okay), but I really wouldn't push it with anything that makes you feel bad.

2. Based on what doctors told me, you REALLY cannot afford to hit your head again while you still have any symptoms of your concussion (and I imagine you probably shouldn't do anything that has it bouncing around a lot either). So if you decide you want to ride, I would just be reallllly careful and do not risk falling and hitting your head. They told me that once all the symptoms were gone, I could do whatever I wanted, but brainz really don't like being re-injured while you're still having symptoms of the original injury.

ETA: For people in general who might experience head injuries in the future (as is always a possibility as a cyclist): I know going to the ER sucks, but you can't always tell how bad your head injury is based on how you feel, so it's really a good idea to get checked out. Brains are pretty important. Even if you don't think you feel all that bad, and even if you hit your head while wearing a helmet, it's still possible to have issues like intracranial bleeding, etc. that need to be identified and addressed. Sucks, but it's better to check it out early than to end up having a stroke or other complications later! (Not meant to be directed specifically at you, steve. I just know I didn't fully realize this kind of thing until I had a head injury of my own, so I figured I'd share.)

Yeah I agree with the above edit. I banged my head on Thursday, hard, and it hurt like a bitch. But I never lost consciousness so I figured no big deal. I spent all day Friday nauseous with a splitting headache. But I was working on a difficult stat problem so I chalked it up to a work hazard and pressed on. Saturday still felt like crap. Went out Saturday night, promptly drank as much as possible, and felt great! But talked to my friend who said drinking was bad news and she told me I likely had a concussion. Ignored her, drank up, danced, had a great time. Sunday was pay day for Saturday, and I really felt horrible. Monday woke up, tried to go to swim practice, failed, and finally went to the doctor. I was foolish not to go Thursday night when this happened. I could have had a much more serious injury. Going out, drinking, swimming... all of that stuff was stupid stupid stupid. But I just kept thinking, oh I'm fine. Not fine. Six days later and I still have a headache. So don't be dumb like me, either.

Wow, nausea and headache -- first symptoms doctors are looking for (I had 4 lights and 1 mild -- last one 21 days in bed and even traveling to restroom has to be assisted). For light concussion bed and sleep are the best friends (and enough water). If headaches are too much to bear then some pain killers. You did a wrong stuff. I would say if you can afford 3 days off then take them and sleep through 5 days strait. No running, no dancing, even no walking. Sleep (if you can 12-15 hours per day) and potato couch for 5 strait days. Per my brother and his wife (both are surgeons) -- if you are not let you to be at bed for the first week you are going to pay a month later. And there are consequences. Some of them could led to death.

And listen to your doctor.

Your case reminds me of Natasha Richardson, the actress, who fell while learning to ski -- not even that hard, though without the tragic end (she died). The biggest risk is a brain bleed inside your skull; pressure builds since the blood has nowhere to go. By the time symptoms show up, it might be too late.

You're past that point and I think what you have to worry about now is re-injuring yourself because successive minor injuries to the brain can have long term effects. Think NFL. But it's really hard to judge whats safe, and probably your doctor doesn't want to green-light physical activity because of the risk of blame if there is re-injury. I would take it easy until you are well past any symptoms, and avoid exercise that risked new damage for some time after that.

it depends on how important your brain is to you.

I would recommend taking any medical advice seriously. As a medical professional myself, I don't ever recommend anything to a patient if I don't really mean it. Unfortunately it seems that the advice you received was not very clear. Ask him/her specific questions and keep asking until he/she makes it clear. patient noncompliance happens all the time and I've done it myself. sometimes it's worth the risk but I don't think it's a good idea to be risky with your brain.

Concussions suck. I've been there after a skiing accident. Hope you have a quick recovery.

I broke my collarbone in conjunction with my concussion, so it wasn't too feasible for me to ride immediately after.

However, it took me about 4 months to be able to ride (and live life) w/o feeling the effects of the concussion. Lack of balance, forgetting what you're saying/typing mid-sentence, etc., were all symptoms that I had. Headaches only lasted the first few days or so.

I still rode 5 weeks after, but I rode more vigilantly. Of course your judgment is impaired as well, so that probably isn't the wisest thing, but I took the risk.

@sarah_q

Your tale of the first few days of "recovery" made me laugh!

You tried to do Stats?

As a statistician, I can tell you that even trying to do those things is a sign of some kind of profound neurological aberration.

As a statistician, I can tell you that even trying to do those things is a sign of some kind of profound neurological aberration.

Much like triathlons. Or rando.

It sounds like this is your first concussion? If so, you might get away with just a few days of rest and then see. The big thing is if you get ANY symptoms again after riding give it another week and test again.

I've been going through this with my husband since October and we thought it was cleared up, waiting several months, then boom-concussed again (not on a fall, just from regular riding). This was his third major concussion though.

I'd be conservative after having seen what he's gone through the past few years. If you get symptoms just keep resting. You don't want to go through life with a migraine every other day and vision issues, trust me.

Mick, I wish I could get workers comp for nausea and headache, lol. I'm getting ready to teach two back-to-back two-hour stat lectures. Makes a 10k swim seem like a piece of cake.

One thing I have gathered from everyone I have talked to is that pushing through is about the stupidest thing one can do. I plan to do an easy swim tomorrow -- long set but keep my HR low and no flip turns. If I start to feel crappy I'll abort. Still nervous about the bike. I had a 0 mph crash the other day (stop light, unclipped foot slipped off the curb and I went down in front of tons of backed up traffic, lol). It was no big deal (bruised my ego a bit) then but now that could spell trouble.

@Sarah, In all sincerity, I'm puzzled. When things go wrong in the water, it's really wrong. A moderate bike ride on trails isn't nearly is bad.

Also, I suggest no backstroke. When I do slow backjstroke for any distance, sooner or later I space out and bop my head inot the side of the pool.

sarah_q "I plan to do an easy swim tomorrow"

I would not do it. Do dangerous.

Sarah, here's the thing. If you had an injury to your leg, you would be able to tell that it was injured and take it easy on that part so as to avoid making it worse. Maybe work on your upper body. But you don't have any pain sensing in your brain. If something is damaged up there you really can't tell. The only way you can avoid re-injury is by not exercising for some days after all symptoms are gone. You aren't at that point yet. So you are taking a risk by exercising. And if you are in the water and suddenly become disoriented, which could happen, you could die. So if you must exercise, do things that are much safer than swimming -- ride a stationary bike, lift weights, etc. With others around, preferably.

Until you get an unambiguous all-clear from your doctor, I'd avoid any activity where the standard equipment includes a helmet, or where passing out can result in drowning. Why risk long-term consequences? Give your brain a chance to heal first.

Thanks everybody! I did ask my doctor on Monday and she said Thursday would be fine if I felt up to it. For me swimming is easier than cycling if I choose it to be: I can swim at a relaxed effort (like walking), an aerobic effort (like jogging), or an anaerobic effort (like sprinting). Tomorrow I plan just an easy effort and to abandon immediately if it's not going well. In a shallow pool (not the river). And I float (big ass).

But I was working on a difficult stat problemBut I was working on a difficult stat problem

as someone who as had three concussions (i missed one saturday cadaver trial and zero football practices--i am not the one to ask about concussion advice!), AND as someone who works in machine learning (aka applied statistics), i demand to know what the stats problem was that you were working on!

I was fitting a 3P IRT model to a 30 question assessment and the thing was squirrely as hell.

Lots of statisticians on here! Represent!

I dabble, but most of my stuff is simple applied stuff for people who can barely understand a linear graph. But back in the day….

In the 90’s I worked in an otolaryngology research lab where we put electrodes on people’s faces and did signal processing to detect where their eyes were looking while we tortured them in spinning chairs with flashing lights and laser dots that sped up or slowed down. Ahh, it was a fun job.

swam today and felt great in the water although it was hard to go that slow. However, picking things up off the floor when I drop them, standing up after sitting for a while, climbing stairs, etc. still suck. Weird.

Glad to hear you're still with us.