In the United States alone, the National Institute of Health ( www.nih.gov ) estimates that close to 1.4 million people are affected each year with Traumatic Brain Injury.  Traumatic Brain Injury is defined as a blow or jolt to the head, or a penetrating head injury that disrupts function of the brain. The severity of such an injury may range from "mild" i.e. a brief change in mental status or consciousness to "severe", i.e. an extended period of unconsciousness or amnesia after the injury. Of those 1.4 million TBI incidents per year, 1.1 million are the classic concussions that are medically evaluated and then sent home to watch, rest, and recover. 

Now add the millions who never seek medical attention after sustaining a mild to moderate concussion, and the statistics of accident victims who don't actually hit their head, but sustain what are called acceleration-deceleration injuries like whiplash, spinal traumas, or hits to the body that result in the brain "hitting" the skull, and the head trauma numbers become staggering.

Populations that are most affected by head trauma and TBI are:

1) Men:  They participate in contact/impact sports, have higher rates of assaults, and tend to work "higher" risk jobs. 

2) Children between the ages of 0-4: think of your average toddler learning to walk, jumping off the coffee table, falling down the stairs, and being at the mercy of older siblings and adults.

3) Teenagers between 15-19.

4) Military: combat personnel are exposed to mortar attacks and "brain rattling" booms that alter brain function. There are thousands of veterans returning from duty in Afghanistan and Iraq who look normal and never sustained a penetrating head wound, but have brains that are damaged.

Even "minor" hits on a repetitive basis can cause biochemical and structural brain change, relating to many long term symptoms and diagnoses such as ADHD, Depression, Migraine, Fibromyalgia, OCD/Anxiety, Parkinson's, and Alzheimer's Dementia. A recent study commissioned by the National Football League (NFL) reports that Alzheimer's disease or similar memory-related diseases appear to have been diagnosed in the league's former players vastly more often than in the national population - including a rate of 19 times the normal rate for men ages 30 through 49. 

Increased scrutiny of head trauma and how to prevent it is a hot topic of discussion in the medical world today. Treatment options however remain minimal and consist of watch and wait, medications such as anti-seizure, anti-depressant, narcotics, and possible behavioral therapy.  Structural integrity and nutrient imbalances experienced by the brain after trauma are important to address.

 NeuroCranial Restructuring (NCR), a structural therapy that addresses cranial shape, cerebral spinal fluid dynamics, and connective tissue tensions throughout the skull and muscular system can help treat the symptoms of head trauma.  NCR can restore balance, decrease or eliminate symptoms of headaches, pain, mental imbalance, and improve blood flow. It is only minimally invasive, requires no drugs, no anesthesia, and most patients walk out feeling better than when they arrived.

Pulsed Electromagnetic Field Therapy (PEMFT), of which we offer in our clinic,  has also shown results in helping diminish symptoms of head trauma.  Headaches are a common symptom of head trauma, PEMFT has been shown to decrease  headache pain and intensity.  

"In the active-treatment group, all assessed criteria were significantly improved at the end of the migraine/headache study. 76% of active-treatment patients experienced clear or very clear relief of their complaints. Only 1 placebo-patient (2.5%) felt some relief; 8% noted slight and 2% reported significant worsening of symptoms. No side effects were noted. " Advances in Therapy   PMID: 11571822

Addressing the biochemical imbalances with drugs, nutrients, and hormones, can also help improve recovery outcomes. NCR and PEMFT, when used in conjunction with a biochemical protocol, can have amazing outcomes for those suffering from the short and long term effects of head trauma. 

Quality of life is important to everyone, so if you or someone you love is living with lasting effects of Traumatic Brain Injury or head trauma, seek out all your options.  In the meantime, wear your helmet, your seat belt, and avoid activities that involve hitting your head- your BODY and BRAIN with thank you.

 Dr Hillary 

The Basics Of Head Trauma & NCR

About This Video:

Dr. Hillary gives a simple 6 minute introduction to the basics of how to treat the effects of head trauma with NeuroCranial Restructuring (NCR). She covers the three classes of concussion, the leading causes of traumatic brain injury (TBI), who is most at risk for TBI (men, children and teens, athletes, and military personnel) and why, statistics about TBI, common treatments, and why NCR improves the fluid dynamics in the head and neck to improve the neurological function of the body.

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The Basics Of Head Trauma & NCR

Recently the British Medical Journal published a retrospective cohort study that followed just over 62,000 children from birth to age 10 to explore a hypothesis that medically attended head injury in children before age 2 may be causal in developing ADHD by age 10. Children that received burns before age 2 were also studied, and both groups were compared to children who before age 2 had neither a burn or head injury. The findings were somewhat compelling:

1. Of the 62,088 children studied, 2782 (4.5%) suffered head injury and 1116 (1.8%) suffered burn injury before age
2. Males had higher rates of injury in these cases
3. The injured children were of greater deprivation, or lower socioeconomic class.
4. The children who had already sustained a head injury/burn prior to age 2 had a higher percentage of head injuries after age 2.
5. Children with a head injury before age 2 were TWICE as likely to be diagnosed as having ADHD as the comparison group, but not more likely that the burn group. Basically both head injury and burns doubled ADHD diagnosis before 10.
6. In all 3 groups the risk of ADHD diagnosis increased among children who had a head injury AFTER age 2.

So what were the researchers conclusions? That head injury itself does not seem to be causal in the development of ADHD, rather that head injury prior to age 2 may be due to the increased risk behavior of those children with ADHD and can only be used as a marker, not a cause. Interestingly enough they also state that children with ADHD are more vulnerable to post-concussive syndrome with a mild traumatic brain injury.

Most of my practice deals with those who have sustained a traumatic injury of some kind, whether head, body, or emotional (likely all three). Many of the adults that I treat started having problems in childhood as a result of an UNTREATED head injury, and many of the children that I see have the ADHD diagnosis or would easily fit into the criteria. I am excited that the mainstream is looking at the correlation of these factors, but now the question is HOW ARE MILD HEAD INJURIES TREATED?

NCR has given me a whole new aspect of treating these patients by allowing me to remove the obstacle to cure and possibly save a child a lifetime of this diagnosis. Many parents who are reluctant to have their children treated after an injury state that they want to wait until the child is older, more mature, etc, but after looking at this study I must ask the question...WHY WAIT? Perhaps we can stop the negative sequeli of head injury now and spare the diagnosis of ADHD in the future.