You may feel a bit groggy or tired for a couple of days after suffering a concussion, but make no mistake, the effects of a concussion can linger for months or longer without proper intervention. Moreover, many of the ways that a concussion can affect you can go unnoticed in the moment. Recently, researchers found that the risk of being involved in a car accident skyrockets in the weeks after the driver has suffered a concussion, suggesting that injured individuals may not want to get behind the wheel anytime soon after an injury.
To get a better understand of the impact that a concussion can have on our brain’s processing and decision making power in the weeks that follow an injury, researchers took a closer look at the medical records of more than 3 million patients who suffered either a concussion or an ankle sprain between April 2002 and March 2022. They identified more than 425,000 people who were treated for a concussion and 2.6 million people who were treated for an ankle sprain. They also tracked information pertaining to future medical visits, and they came to some surprising conclusions.
Overall, people with a concussion had a 49% higher risk of being involved in a traffic crash than those who had sprained their ankle. Moreover, a person’s risk of being involved in a car accident was six times higher in the first month following a concussion. Finally, about 1 in every 13 concussion patients wound up injured in a subsequent traffic crash, researchers noted.
“I worry that sometimes a concussion requires more recovery time than most people realize,” lead researcher Dr. Donald Redelmeier, a scientist at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences and Sunnybrook Research Institute in Toronto, Canada, said in a news release.“ Rushing things might lead to another injury including a life-threatening traffic crash.”
Concussion And Car Crash Risk
Now, researchers did note that the study only proved correlation, not causation, but there does appear to be a strong link between concussion and crash risk. Researchers noted that patients shouldn’t just assume that their concussion symptoms will clear on their own, and they’ll want to find a specific management plan that helps them overcome some of the most common post-concussion symptoms like:
- Dizziness
- Insomnia
- Headaches
- Fatigue
- Confusion
- Difficulty concentrating
- Delayed reaction times
We’ve talked about concussion management a few times on this blog because we oftentimes work with athletes who have a heightened risk of both concussions and ankle sprains. For either injury, proactive treatment and a gradual return to more labor-intense activities is a must to ensure the body can handle what is being asked of it.
If you need help overcoming an ankle sprain or a concussion, sync up with a professional in your area. For all your foot and ankle needs, reach out to Dr. Silverman by filling out this contact form..