Concussion Management
Helping you understand your injury and recovery
A concussion can affect your comfort, concentration, sleep and ability to participate in everyday activities. Understanding your symptoms and knowing how to approach recovery can make the process less overwhelming.
At Victoria East Chiropractic Clinic, we provide concussion-related assessment, treatment and recovery guidance, along with preseason baseline testing when required. Our approach includes evaluating symptoms and associated injuries, providing appropriate treatment, monitoring progress, and guiding your return to work, school and sport.
What is a concussion?
A concussion is a traumatic brain injury caused by a force to the head or body that makes the brain move rapidly within the skull. It can happen during sport, a fall, a motor vehicle collision or another accident.
You do not need to lose consciousness to have a concussion. Symptoms may appear immediately or develop over the hours following an injury. [1,2]
Common concussion symptoms
Symptoms can affect several aspects of daily life, including:
- Headaches or pressure in the head
- Dizziness or difficulty with balance
- Nausea
- Sensitivity to light or noise
- Blurred vision
- Difficulty concentrating or remembering
- Feeling slowed down or mentally foggy
- Fatigue or changes in sleep
- Irritability, anxiety or other mood changes
Neck pain and stiffness may also accompany the injury and contribute to ongoing discomfort. [1,3]
How our clinic can help
Chiropractors can play an important role in concussion assessment and management. At Victoria East Chiropractic Clinic, our approach combines assessment, treatment directed at relevant symptoms, recovery education and ongoing monitoring. [5,6]
We review how the injury occurred, your symptoms, relevant medical history and how the injury affects your daily activities. Assessment may include neurological and neck examinations, along with standardized symptom measures where appropriate.
Depending on your findings and needs, care may include:
- Assessment and monitoring: Evaluating symptoms and associated injuries, and reviewing changes throughout recovery.
- Treatment of associated pain: Addressing neck pain, stiffness, muscle discomfort, and headaches where a neck-related contribution is identified.
- Recovery education: Providing practical advice about pacing, daily activities, and recovery.
- Return-to-activity guidance: Helping you understand a gradual return to work, school, and sport.
- Referral and coordinated care: Identifying concerns that require medical assessment or another provider’s expertise.
Our clinic offers assessment, treatment and recovery guidance. Patients who need a structured concussion rehabilitation program can be directed to an appropriate provider.
Why assess the neck after a concussion?
The same event that causes a concussion can also injure the neck. Neck injuries may contribute to headaches, stiffness, and other symptoms that overlap with concussion symptoms.
Assessing these associated injuries helps identify whether neck treatment should form part of your care. Treatment is selected according to your examination findings and stage of recovery, after serious injury has been excluded.
Where appropriate, manual treatment may help address an associated neck condition. This treatment targets the neck-related symptoms rather than the brain injury itself. [3,5]
Preseason baseline testing
We also offer preseason concussion baseline testing when required by a team or sporting organization. Testing takes place before an injury and records selected measures of an athlete’s function for potential comparison during a later concussion assessment.
Baseline testing is one part of the assessment process. It does not prevent concussions, replace a clinical assessment or determine return-to-sport clearance on its own. You can still receive concussion care without a baseline test.
Contact our clinic to discuss your team’s requirements and arrange testing.
Recovery and returning to activity
Current guidance recommends a brief period of relative rest during the first 24–48 hours, followed by a gradual return to suitable activities. Relative rest allows light daily activities that cause no more than mild, brief symptom worsening. Prolonged complete inactivity is generally discouraged. [4]
Your return to work, school and sport should reflect your symptoms and the demands of those activities. Avoid activities that could cause another head injury during recovery.
If a concussion is suspected during sport, stop participating immediately and do not return that day. Seek prompt assessment. Return to sport stages involving contact, collision or a risk of falling require appropriate medical clearance. [2,5]
When to seek medical care
A suspected concussion requires prompt assessment. Medical assessment by a doctor or nurse practitioner is important to rule out serious injuries and arrange investigations when needed. We recommend medical referral when findings or symptoms require it and work alongside other healthcare providers as appropriate.
Call 911 or seek emergency care immediately after an injury if there is a severe or worsening headache, repeated vomiting, seizure, loss of consciousness, difficulty waking, increasing confusion, double vision, significant neck pain, or weakness or numbness. [1,5]
Book an appointment
Contact us at Victoria East Chiropractic Clinic to discuss concussion-related assessment, treatment, recovery guidance or preseason baseline testing. Our reception team can help arrange an appointment with the appropriate practitioner.
If your injury requires urgent medical assessment, seek medical care promptly rather than waiting for a clinic appointment.
Call 306-525-6977 to book an appointment.
References and resources
- Public Health Agency of Canada. Concussion Symptoms and Treatment.
- Parachute. Canadian Guideline on Concussion in Sport, 2nd Edition. 2024.
- Living Concussion Guidelines. Management of Prolonged Symptoms.
- Patricios JS, et al. Consensus Statement on Concussion in Sport from the Sixth International Conference. British Journal of Sports Medicine. 2023;57:695–711.
- Canadian Chiropractic Guidelines. Concussion Care Pathway. Updated September 2026.
- Canadian Chiropractic Guideline Initiative, Canadian Chiropractic Association and Royal College of Chiropractic Sports Sciences (Canada). Position Statement on Assessment, Diagnosis and Management of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury and Concussion.
