• Jessie Jacob, South Carolina, was concussed—twice in one day—while playing high school water polo. o “At my high school, there was a stigma that surrounded people who got concussions about how they were weak or using it as an excuse to get out of things. I was a very academically-oriented person in high school who took AP classes and got straight A’s. After my injury, I could barely read and process information on my own, let alone get good grades. My school performance really suffered for about a year. That's the thing that really tore me apart inside because people thought I wasn't trying when in reality, things just got 1,000 times harder and I was drowning in my course work.”
• Elizabeth Klaffenbach, Westminster, sustained two concussions playing basketball during high school and college, respectively. o “In college, I felt pressured to return to play by my coach. So I
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Marsha Gabriel, Ph.D., Oklahoma, Senior Neuropsychologist at Cook Children’s Health Care System in Fort Worth, Texas, and Dr. Megan Adams Rieck, M.S., Ph.D., Iowa¬, Clinical Neuropsychologist at UnityPoint Health Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, answer The Key’s questions about the clinical side of concussions.
How does the medical community define a concussion?
Dr. Gabriel: A concussion results from impact to the skull or body causing acceleration/deceleration forces that produce biochemical changes in the brain. Symptoms include dizziness, nausea, vomiting, headache, irritability, vision changes, and decline in attention, memory, and speed of processing information.
If a person doesn't lose consciousness, could they still have a concussion?
Dr. Adams Rieck: It is possible to sustain a concussion without a loss of consciousness. In that case, it is common for a person to have an alteration in their consciousness often noticed as “seeing stars” and a loss of memory for the event.
Is a concussion always obvious right