Pediatric Neurology Concussion Clinic Opens in North Denver

June 29, 2012

"Screening athletes "pre-injury" is critical in understanding post concussion injury deficits", says Tonia M Sabo, MD , headache specialist at Colorado Pediatric Neurology and Headache. Dr Sabo should know because she has been a Pediatric Neurologist for over 20 years and Headache Specialist for most of that time.

Dr. Sabo has seen a variety of injuries ranging from a minor knock to the head to severe brain injuries resulting from high impact sports. Injuries that some athletes would have a relatively quick recovery period affect other athletes in a more significant way. This is most commonly due to a condition called, "Second Impact Syndrome". Second impact syndrome ocurs when an athlete is not yet recovered from one injury and then receives another head impact and the recovery and symptoms can last for a much longer than expected time.

Dr Sabo explains that the brain can become "hypersensitive" to even minor blows resulting in common post-concussive symptoms of headache, disrupted sleep, alteration in mood or personality, difficult times concentrating and reading with exhaustion and fatigue.

She states that the typical young athlete thinks they are ready "to be back in action" often within days. The athlete finds, though, that stamina is not there causing difficulites with school work and typical activities. Stress starts to really kick in when the athlete gets in the vicious cycle of worrying about school and keeping up with work which increases stress which extends time for recovery".

"I find that most athletes just need to give themselves the permission to rest and sleep...She completes a full Neurological evaluation to have a comparison for post injury exams.

Neurological symptoms comprise the majority of the "post-concussive syndrome" and she feels a Pediatric Neurologist is the most qualified practioner to perform assessments because of the intensive training required for board certification and a full understanding of the nervous system.

She relies on co-management from a team she has comprised to assist with the physical treatment of sore muscles, core and neck conditioning and alternative methods to help with recovery such as "quieting therapies" and stress reduction. She feels the nervous system needs to be brought back down to pre-injury functioning often requiring other therapies and sometimes medications if insomnia and headaches are severe.

Dr Sabo is currently accepting new patients for concussion and headache evaluations. office: 340 E 1st Ave, Suite 205, Broomfield Co 80020, office phone : 303-439-7777 and web: http://www.coloradomigraine.com.

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/prweb2012/6/prweb9430165.htm