??
??
i ran the day after being in the ER for a concussion. i don't remember 3-4 hours of the day. the next day, i went for an easy 5 miles. it was fine. the IV i got actually made for a pretty good run.
i did a bit of research after this and learned:
1) exercise is actually good for head injuries as long as it isn't something that could make you hit your head again.
2) the key is to not have another head injury soon after a concussion. it's called "second impact syndrome" and can cause brain damage.
3) going back to class or work that takes lots of thought can bring back the symptoms of a concussion.
4) anecdotal...i think you become really fearful in situations that could cause you to fall again. i went backpacking the week after the concussion and was petrified of descending off trail. i'm usually a bit hesitant but i was almost paralyzed with fear.
Maybe, but timing and control are critical. Definitely something to discuss with a neurologist.
http://www.athleticbusiness.com/articles/article.aspx?articleid=3959&zoneid=55
just asking wrote:
??
Not worth it, dude. Just stay home.
as someone who had a couple concussions followed by 8-10 months of post-concussion syndrome a few years back, i feel like i can chip in here.
personally, whenever i got my heart rate up even a little bit (>140, when i was about 20, so 70% of max), i would start to feel crappy. my head would hurt and feel fuzzy, and i would take a long time to get back to normal (as normal as normal was at the time) after that.
talked to my neuro doc, and she told me that increasing intercranial pressure can exacerbate symptoms and slow recovery. the advice was simply to keep my heart rate down, and not lift weights, since that jacks ICP up noticeably.
once i was feeling better, i eased back into harder effort cardio, and weights a long time after that.
since i had post-concussion syndrome, my case was different. but one of the interesting things about concussions is the fact that they are so danged idiosyncratic. if you can run without exacerbating any symptoms, go ahead and do it. in this case, you're probably going to help healing, and at least not hurt it. but if you feel even a little bit different than you used to after running, chill out for a week or two before trying again. do something lame like ellipticaling, keep your HR down, and take comfort in the fact that this just means you'll be back to form faster.
this is the part where i say this isn't medical advice and i'm not a doctor and you should really talk to one
ack. intracranial pressure, not intercranial pressure. unless you had multiple heads. in which case, never mind.