Should i fly after concussion

ImPACT researchers believe that each concussion falls into 1 or more of 6 trajectories, and that once we understand the trajectories, symptoms, physical findings, and useful treatments can be better understood.

We will explore these in the months ahead. COVID has changed almost all aspects of our lives. For kids, one area that has been changed, is returning to sports participation.

Many of them have to fly to get here. Patients often ask if flying will make their concussion symptoms worse. The bad news is that it probably will. The good news is that the ill effects are not permanent. Because concussions are our specialty, and because so many of our patients fly here for treatment, we have a lot of experience with successfully guiding them through the air travel process. Note: Have your concussion symptoms lingered for weeks, months, or even years?

To see if you are eligible for treatment, sign up for a free consultation. The effects of the concussion make it even harder to function normally and to make decisions, making airports unpleasant at best. You should also consider your injury. Was your concussion very recent? Did you suffer a traumatic brain injury? Are you suffering from post-concussion syndrome?

Your answers to these questions will influence how advisable it is for you to fly and what precautions you should take if you do. People have accidents on vacation.

Athletes travel for competition or training, and get concussions away from home. Car accidents happen on business trips. There are many reasons you might need to travel with a concussion. One small study of collegiate athletes and military cadets who flew within hours after an injury found that neither the severity of their symptoms nor the recovery time was affected by the flight when compared to those who did not fly immediately after a concussion.

On the other hand, a study of NHL players who flew within 6 hours after a game in which they sustained a concussion had a slightly longer recovery time. Those players missed an average of one-third more games after injury than those who did not fly immediately after injury. The authors of the study speculated that this could be due to decreased oxygen in flight and lack of brain rest after the injury. Getting a proper amount of quality sleep is very important to concussion recovery.

During restorative sleep, the brain flushes out toxins that build up during the day. One study showed that better sleep quality was tied to better brain function after brain injury.

Alternatively, it could be that your symptoms are minimal, but the exhausting and stressful conditions of flight travel push your brain too far, causing symptoms to emerge. Instead, it sticks with the inefficient paths it resorted to while dealing with the effects of the concussion. This leads to persistent concussion symptoms that you might experience daily or when some stressor aggravates them.

It is safe to fly with post-concussion syndrome, but it will probably make your symptoms worse temporarily. We encourage our patients not to let fear overcome their desire to fly for whatever reason, whether it be to get to treatment or for some other important event in their lives. We caution them that the longer they live with their symptoms, the more accustomed they become to them.

That only makes it harder to overcome them in the future. There are times when flying is not advisable or at least, not without the consent of your physician. If you just had a severe traumatic brain injury TBI , you might not want to fly immediately afterwards. This is true whether you have a concussion or not. Animal studies have shown some worrisome trends.

When mice or rats with an induced TBI have been exposed to hypobaric conditions to simulate the experience of air travel, they showed alterations in cerebral blood flow, increased neuroinflammatory responses and neurocognitive deficits like slower reflexes. But until recently, little was known about the clinical impact of flying on TBI in humans.

What we found in a recent analysis should be reassuring. During a 4-year period from to , 3, of these athletes experienced a concussion. Of these, approximately are known to have flown in an airplane within 72 hours of sustaining their concussion. There are a few limitations to our study. For example, it is possible that the people we studied, who tended to be healthier and more physically fit than average, recover better and are more resistant to the effects of flying than non-athletes.

The athletes were evaluated a day or two after their flights, so it is also possible that some of them experienced acute symptoms during or immediately after the flights that then resolved. More studies of patients in the general population are needed, but this analysis provides good reassurance that it can generally be considered safe to fly shortly after a concussion. Take the following steps to mitigate the potential complications associated with post-concussion flying:. Contact the brain injury attorneys at Scarlett Law Group if you or a loved one has sustained a brain injury due to the negligence of a person, corporation, or government entity.

Call Scarlett Law Group at to speak with an experienced brain injury lawyer. Will Flying Affect Recovery Time? Tips to Prepare for Air Travel Sometimes circumstances are beyond us, and it can take months for a concussion to heal — especially if the accident survivor has post-concussion syndrome.

If you need to travel for whatever reason, follow these tips below: Sit in a dim room and avoid strenuous activities. Security checks, fighting for overhead bin space, trying to step around packed-in passengers — are all considered strenuous activities that can make your concussion worse.

Find a travel buddy who can accompany you on the trip and keep tabs on you if you are feeling overwhelmed. Plan ahead and organize your itinerary so you are not stressed with figuring the details out during the trip. Make plans for transportation that does not involve driving yourself. Driving in a new location can be extremely stressful and may worsen your symptoms.