FYI, there's some useful research on trauma recovery buried in this movie review
(The review also features a really odd use of the phrase "fudge factory"--could *this* be journalism's new "as though by some occult hand"?)
Should people with concussions rest until their symptoms disappear, as the film repeatedly suggests? That's been the standard advice since the 1940s, but there's very little evidence to show it's more than superstition. The only real work to support the notion came out in June, with equivocal results. (Researchers found that a week of rest taken right after getting hit did as much good as a week taken several months later.)
Let's stick to this last point, since the idea that players should be barred from competition after getting dinged is seen as gospel by nearly everyone who appears in the film. It's the closest thing we have to a solid fact about concussion. It's also the central point of Concussions and Our Kids, the new book (out this week) from one of the major subjects of Head Games, BU professor and concussion expert Robert Cantu. "Rest is the hallmark of concussion therapy," Cantu writes.He advises parents and doctors to keep young athletes away from school for weeks or months, if necessary, after a nasty head injury. They should avoid all physical exertion and also mental overload—the kind associated with taking tests and reading books. They should also be prevented from using Facebook, sending text messages, and watching movies.
All that resting could be hurting more than it helps, however. A review published in the Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation this June points out that extended inactivity can cause depression, anxiety, headache, insomnia, and even balance problems, even in the absence of any head injury whatsoever. In other words, too much rest could itself produce the scary symptoms of "post-concussive syndrome." The authors of the review point out that "being sedentary after an injury or illness is one of the most consistent risk factors for chronic disability," and that the lasting symptoms of concussion (which affect a modest percentage of its sufferers) happen to overlap very neatly with the symptoms of depression. Could taking kids out of school or pro athletes off the field worsen their sadness and frustration?
