Brain Injury, Concussion
Brain injury is a physical event that alters the normal functioning of the brain. The damage may not be physical at all, just functional. Effects may be brief, relatively enduring or permanent. While some injuries appear to correct themselves over time, others don’t. Often the injury is not recognized and the origin of the resulting symptoms is not understood.
Brain injury is common in our modern world: car accidents, even minor ones, sports injuries, children hit in the head or falling. These injuries are functional, not physical. They will not show up on a scan and as of yet there is no way to assess them. Their effects may persist indefinitely.
Effects of Functional Brain Injury
With even a mild injury, people may experience dizziness, physical and mental fatigue, ringing in the ears, trouble concentrating, memory lapses, brain fog, slower thinking in general or with particular subjects such as math. They may experience anxiety, depression, irritability, mood swings and disturbances of thought. Problems at work or school may persist indefinitely.
These problems may appear immediately or months after an injury. Brain injuries don’t necessarily appear as a concussion, with associated symptoms. People may experience depression or problems thinking months after a car accident.
Birth Injuries
Brain injury at birth is more common than generally recognized. Difficulties in the delivery, or even in utero may injure the brain. Hypoxia may have long term effects on brain functioning. The use of forceps or other physical methods may distort the cranium and the brain. A common problem is the administration of Pitocin, used to induce labor. About 1/3 of births in the US are induced by Pitocin. We have to ask, if a drug is powerful enough to induce labor, what effect is it having on the newborn’s nervous system?
Pitocin has been implicated in the increased incidence of ADHD and autism. I have observed common patterns of people born with Pitocin: irritability, poor sleep, difficulty with transitions, inflexibility. These patterns may persist into adulthood. All result from stress on the nervous system and can be relieved with Neurofeedback. Craniosacral therapy is a good idea too.
Neurofeedback for Brain Injury
In short, brain injury is more common than we think, it is often not recognized or diagnosed, and even when it is, modern medicine has limited ability to address it. The idea that the brain will find its way back to normal functioning is often not the case. Emotional or cognitive problems may persist in some form for decades, or the rest of one’s life.
Neurofeedback is the only modality able to fully remediate the effects of brain injury. ILF neurofeedback can clear up the effects of mild to moderate injury in as few as ten sessions. Severe injury will take longer.
It is often advisable to combine neurofeedback with cranial osteopathy or craniosacral therapy for rapid and optimal results. The two modalities synergize, with the osteopathy correcting the conditions of brain functioning (the skull), and the neurofeedback addressing the functioning itself.