Concussion Recovery Stalling? 3 Reasons a Neuropsychological Assessment Can Help

A traumatic brain injury (TBI) occurs when your brain is damaged and how it works is affected. With a blunt TBI, the damage is done by an outside force that hits your head hard enough that your brain bounces against your skull or twists around.

TBIs are categorized as mild, moderate, or severe, with mild forms usually termed concussions. Over 75% of TBIs are considered mild, but they can cause long-lasting symptoms.

Symptoms, even with a concussion, can affect your body, thought processes, and emotions. You may experience headaches, confusion, poor sleep, short-term memory loss, and mood or behavior changes.

At Advanced Neurology Specialists, LLC, triple-board-certified neurologist Dr. Cory Lamar is a brain injury expert. If you’ve sustained a concussion, and rest and time haven’t gotten you back to where you were pre-injury, neuropsychological testing may be able to help get you back on track.

Recovering from a mild TBI

If you’ve had a concussion, Dr. Lamar generally recommends both mental and physical rest, which are essential to allow your brain time to heal. He monitors your symptoms to ensure they don’t worsen, but it’s rare that you’ll need additional treatment.

However, if you don’t give your brain enough time to heal, you run a higher risk of what’s known as second-impact syndrome, a life-threatening condition in which your brain suddenly swells after a second injury.

It’s also possible that you do give yourself enough time, but your recovery stalls, meaning you reach a plateau, after which your symptoms don’t improve. Returning to work or school or even performing daily tasks may prove difficult. In such cases, Dr. Lamar may recommend neuropsychological testing to try to push beyond the block.

What is a neuropsychological assessment, and what are 3 reasons it can help with a mild TBI?

Neuropsychological assessment for a concussion evaluates a person’s memory, attention, processing speed, and executive function using either standardized or computerized tasks. It does three important things:

1. Helps track cognitive recovery
2. Quantifies post-concussion impairment
3. Guides safe return-to-play or return-to-learn decisions

We should note, however, that such assessment is rarely a stand-alone test. Rather, it’s used alongside clinical evaluations to determine individual results.

If your concussion was caused by a sports injury, neuropsychological assessment is a key aspect of a comprehensive, multidisciplinary approach to assessing it. Computerized tests are most commonly used, and they involve both baseline and postinjury assessments.

A comprehensive neuropsychological assessment for a sports-related concussion (SRC) should also incorporate symptom inventories, vestibular-ocular screening, and a psychological evaluation.

These assessments are most effective when completed by a clinical neuropsychologist or brain injury specialist like Dr. Lamar. They have specialized training in test interpretation and conceptualization of the psychological, cognitive, behavioral, physiologic, and neurologic factors involved in managing and treating SRCs and other forms of concussion.

If you’ve had a traumatic brain injury, Advanced Neurology Specialists, LLC can help manage your care and aid with your recovery, including through the use of neuropsychological assessments. Call our Naples, Florida, office today at 239-667-5878 to set up a consultation with Dr. Lamar, or book an appointment online.