U.S. study on concussions in young
The study was conducted using 88 people aged 11 to 22 who had a concussion and went to the emergency department at the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. One group were told to rest for two days, the other group were told to rest for five days. These were not patients whose concussions were so severe they had to be admitted to the hospital, but those who were able to return home for their recovery period.
It found that those told to rest for five days before returning to activities reported more symptoms like headaches and nausea than those who’d been told to rest 48 hours before returning to activities. Study authors also found those told to rest for the longer time took a longer time to recover.
The study had patients each day rate symptoms, take short brain function tests and test their balance. There was no difference between those told to rest two days and those told to rest five days when it came to brain function and maintaining balance; the difference came in number and severity of symptoms recorded and in the time it took to recover.
Concussions: Less is more
A pediatric emergency medicine doctor at Children’s Hospital in Milwaukee, Dr. Danny G. Thomas, led the research, published Monday in the journal Pediatrics. Dr. Thomas notes they expected to find that more rest led to a quicker and stronger recovery and were surprised to find the reverse.
Another study participant was Dr. Christopher Giza, a professor of pediatric neurology at Mattel Children’s Hospital at the University of California. Dr. Giza noted that the research essentially told them that sometimes “more isn’t always better.”
A Dr. Gerard Gioia, the chief of pediatric neuropsychology at Washington’s Children’s National Medical Center, who was not part of the study, told the New York Times that there was a time about 10 years ago when not enough rest was prescribed for young people after a concussion but that he has seen that changed.
“I now see kids being forced to do too little,” he said. “The pendulum has to come back to the middle.”
The American Academy of Pediatrics wrote that the study found that “Recommending strict rest for adolescents immediately after concussion offered no added benefit over (less rest).”
