Question:
I am wondering if any of you might have some personal experrience that may be able to help me.

I hit my head in a race in March earlier this year. It was not super traumatic, but I did crack my helmet open and probably balcked out for a few seconds. I had a headache afterwards, but felt OK within a few days and could ride OK. I tried racing the following weekend but in the race I had a terrible time. I felt real good for the first few laps, but after doing an effort or two on the fron, I really started to feel terrible. I totally lost power and had to drop out. After the race I felt really bad to with a splitting headache and nausea. This lasted for a few days. I was a mite concerned to say the least. I had the CT scan and x-ray and had an appointment with a neurologist as well as my GP. Of course everything was fine. They really had nothing to tell me about what was causing the problems... they said that there is really no studies done on the effect on hard anaerobic efforts on a healing concussion. they both said just take it easy if i felt bad etc. Not any real help. The neurologist said that everything checked out just fine on the CT, so I had nothing to worry about. He speculated that I might be casuing some reoccurence of the trauma by an increase in blood pressure when I exert myself. He had no advice as to how long I needed to be careful etc.

9 weeks later the problem persists. I can go and ride all day long and I feel great. I can go zone 3 and low zone 4 and feel great. But if I try to go real hard I start getting a headache that does not go away for few days.

I am wondering if any other cyclists out there have had any problems with this. We as cyclists are kinda in a unique situation bveing that we have a real opportunity for head injury and also exert out bodies to maximal levels. There seems to not be alot of real medical opinions out there on the subject, so I wanted to know what has been the expereince of other people that have had concussions. Has anyone experienced anything like this?

Answer: Here is a wild idea, and I'm sure to catch hell for it, but here it is anyway. I'd suggest trying acupuncture. It is intimately involved in issues of blood flow and pressure and a session with a good acupuncturist will probably run you in the neighborhood of $50. I haven't tried it, but I have watched my roommate struggle with a muscle injury in her hip for the last 2.5 years and only in the last 6 months has she found anything effective and that is acupuncture. She was surprised it worked at all! After 8 months of PT and no results she was willing to try anything. I realize a back injury and head injury are very different and the anecdote of one person does not a comprehensive study make, but considering how inexpensive it is you might want to try it.

Often after a minor Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) the effects are not readily apparent from an MRI or CAT scan. This may be because the damage is microscopic. That is, there are micro-tears of nerve fibers from the stretching and/or twisting of the brain. Remember, your brain is soft tissue (the consistency of congealed oatmeal) in a hard container (skull). When you hit your head, the container might remain intact, but the contents shift around quite a bit. Often the best assessment can be obtained by a neuropsychologist who will administer several behavioral tests that examine different brain functions. It might be wise to seek such a consultation. Typically, a neurologist will not provide an in-depth assessment of more subtle brain function.