Sport Psychology Tactics - Why Neurofeedback Can Help Athletes Recover From Concussions
About the Author
Ben Foodman is a licensed psychotherapist & performance specialist. He owns his private practice located in Charlotte North Carolina where he specializes in working with athletes to help them overcome mental blocks (the yips), PTSD, ADD / ADHD and achieve flow states through the techniques of Brainspotting & Neurofeedback. If you are interested in services, use the link here! Enjoy the article below!
Introduction: Neurofeedback, Athletes & Concussions
Participation in sports can be an incredibly uplifting experience that provides many people with the opportunity for self-development both physically and mentally. Inevitably though, athletes will probably experience some form of a mild to moderate injury during sports training and participation. But one area of sport-related injury that needs to be discussed further is concussions and how these types of injuries play a significant role in sport performance experiences.
For this Training Report I want to take the time to discuss concussions and new interventions that can be potentially used to help deal with this issue. First, I will explore how concussions can play a significant role in ALL sports. Second I will review some of the neuroscience behind concussions. Finally I will discuss how neurofeedback can be an effective intervention to help athletes deal with the symptoms of sport-related concussions. Let’s begin by reviewing the role concussions have in sports.
Part I. How Concussions Play A Part In Sports
When athletes participate in sports, they are inevitably putting their body at higher elevated chances to experience injury. This is because the demands of sport performance sometimes create chaotic situations. Most people are familiar with concussions due to the headlines associated with the NFL and the side-effects of CTE (Chronic traumatic encephalopathy) and the visuals of how brutal concussions look during football collisions. But the fact of the matter is that concussions play a role in many sports, and research has shown that football may not even have the highest rate of concussions compared to other sports.
For instance, concussions have played a significant role in other sports such as rugby, hockey, soccer, cheerleading, gymnastics, and motor sports. There are many other sports that have high rates of concussions but the underlying point is that avoiding playing football is by no means going to significantly reduce the odds of experiencing concussions in sports. With that being said, while it is important to understand how wide spread the experiences of sport-related concussions are in athletics, it’s also important to understand the neuroscience behind sport-related concussions
Part II. The Neuroscience Of Sport-Concussions
In the book, The Concussion Cure, Dr. Paul Henry Wand provides a detailed summary of how a concussion damages the brain, ‘a head injury can cause many types of damage to the brain. Much of this damage is determined by the structure of the various tissues that make up the brain. During the injury event, whatever its cause, the brain is jolted around inside the skull and absorbs the forces it is subjected to. These forces cause the brain to strike against the inside surface of the skull called the innter table. The maximal force applied to the brain is almost always the front, and so it is the frontal and temporal lobes that bear the brunt of the injury.’
The author continues, “Many things happen as a result of the acceleration/deceleration effect that cause a brain injury. First and foremost, there is a relative narrowing, or spasming of the arteries which causes a decrease in blood flow known as hypo-perfusion. This reduces the oxygen carried by the arteries to the cells of the brain, resulting in a condition known as ischemia (not enough oxygen-rich blood). Cells in the brain called neurons are very sensitive to oxygen, and as little as 20 percent reduction of blood flow can result in what is called neuronal dysfunction. This is when the ischemic neurons do not function properly, which in turn causes the many symptoms commonly seen in concussions.’
There are many possible interventions that Dr. wand discusses in his book that athletes can turn to to potentially help with concussions such as hyperbaric oxygen therapy, natural supplements therapy and bio-identical hormone therapy. One intervention that is becoming increasingly popular is neurofeedback therapy. Some of the reasons Dr. Wand cites for potential benefits of this intervention are how neurofeedback retrains the brain by taking advantage of the brain’s neuroplasticity (the ability of the brain to create new connections between neurons after an injury). But let’s continue to dive into additional reasons for why this potentially can help athletes with concussions.
Part III. What Is Neurofeedback, & How It Can Help Athletes With Concussions
For athletes interested in learning more about neurofeedback, in summary this is a noninvasive, neuroscience intervention which measures & trains brainwaves. This approach provides real-time feedback about where the client’s brain is functioning efficiently versus where their brain needs training. Ultimately, this mind-body approach can help athletes develop neural stability which leads to an increased stress-threshold tolerance. But let’s continue to dive into how exactly neurofeedback works, and why would it be able to help athletes with concussions.
Neurofeedback works through Operant Conditioning, which is a form of learning that uses a reward to modify behavior. For example, during a neurofeedback session as the brainwaves change in a healthier way, athletes may hear a bell ring or will see a visual image changing on a computer screen during their neurofeedback training session. This feedback encourages the brain to more easily move into healthier functional ranges over time (athletes with concussions very likely are experiencing unhealthy ranges). Research shows that neurofeedback promotes healthier blood flow to the cortex of the brain, and after repeated sessions long standing changes are maintained long after Neurofeedback training is complete.
Note To Reader:
If you are an athlete reading this segment of the TRAINING REPORT, hopefully this content was helpful! I put the Training Report together because I felt like many of the discussions on issues such as the Yips/mental blocks, strength training & other subject matter on athlete performance concepts were really missing the mark on these ideas (e.g. how trauma is the direct cause of the Yips). If you are interested in learning more, make sure to subscribe below for when I put out new content on issues related to sport psychology & athlete performance! Also, if you are looking to work with a mental performance specialist, you are in the right place! USE THIS LINK to reach out to me to see if my services are the right fit for your goals!
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