How long does it take to recover from a concussion? What’s the treatment process?

It depends on the person and the severity of the concussion, but generally, experts say patients take three to four weeks to recover. Angela Lumba-Brown, a professor and the co-director of the Brain Performance Center at Stanford University, said 20 percent of people require more than a month. Recovery plans slowly reintroduce activities as the patients starts to feel better. Screen time on computers and video games should be minimized because using them slows recovery. There’s evidence for light aerobic exercise once symptoms have stabilized, research shows . “We’re trying to find the fine line between overstimulation and total shutdown,” said Chris Koutures, a pediatric sports medicine specialist in Anaheim, Calif., and the team physician for the U.S. men’s and women’s volleyball teams. There is no “cure” for a concussion, but there is a neurosteroid in clinical trials that may be able to speed up recovery down the road, Lumba-Brown said. Until then, adequate sleep, staying hydrated and some light exercises, “if you can tolerate” them, are the best steps toward recovery, she said.

What are the symptoms of a concussion?

There are a range of physical, emotional and psychological symptoms. After the hit or fall, you may have a headache, nausea or vomiting, double or blurry vision, or sensitivity to light and noise, and feel sluggish, hazy or like you need to “wipe away cobwebs” from your brain. Losing consciousness, even briefly, or not remembering getting hit or events right before or after the injury are also signs of concussion. Other signs reported by parents include confusion, answering questions slowly, repeating questions, behavior and personality changes, or forgetting an instruction or assignment. Teens may talk about “pressure” in the head; feeling sluggish, hazy, foggy or groggy; and difficulty concentrating or remembering. A teen may describe “just not feeling right” or “feeling down.” “By definition, a concussion is characterized by things that are difficult to quantifiably measure,” said Kristen Dams-O’Connor, a professor and the director of the Brain Injury Research Center at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. She said she doesn’t have “a formula” when assessing whether someone has a concussion. While there are some observable signs, doctors often rely on the symptoms someone says they have. Some people with head injuries are sensitive to lights or sounds for days or even weeks after the incident. You may experience mood swings and have trouble sleeping, said Lumba-Brown. And your symptoms may evolve over time, as well.

How do I know if my injury is serious?

There are some more serious symptoms to watch for, such as a headache that progressively gets worse, slurred speech, repeated vomiting or drowsiness, and loss of consciousness. Gerard Gioia, the chief of neuropsychology and the director of the concussion program at Children’s National Hospital, said there are two conditions to consider when someone sustains a head injury: the force of the blow and whether the person is acting “functionally different” after the incident. The words of wisdom often shared by experts are: “When in doubt, sit it out.” Meaning, if you think someone has sustained a concussion, they should stop playing the sport until they’re checked by a physician. Every state has a law on the books instructing that players with a suspected concussion can’t play again until they’re cleared by a medical professional.

What if I hit my head on a cabinet or door?

Any hit to the head or body could result in a concussion, experts say. Dams-O’Connor said many people sustain concussions while doing “everyday” tasks, such as accidentally slamming your head on your dryer door . And the most common cause of a concussion is an unintentional fall, Lumba-Brown said. If you’re an adult who lives alone and you hit your head, let someone know what happened so they can check in on you, Lumba-Brown said. If your headache gets worse and does not go away, or if you’re vomiting repeatedly, feel drowsy or have slurred speech, you should call 911 or ask someone to take you to the emergency room. Koutures said that “if it changes the way you think, how you act or how you feel, something’s going on.”

Do people really see stars?

“Seeing stars” is a common description for a more serious concern. If the back part of your brain, known as the occipital cortex, is injured, your vision can be affected. “People can see white spots, black spots or everything can look green or yellowish or gray,” said Kenneth Podell , director of the Houston Methodist Concussion Center. “I’ve had patients fully awake that have lost vision for a couple seconds.”

How many concussions are too many?

Experts say there’s no “magic number.” Mark Halstead, the director of the Sports Concussion Program at Washington University in St. Louis, said you could put 10 concussion experts in a room and get 10 different answers to the question. For him, it depends on the patient, the severity of symptoms and their medical history. Halstead said he’s most concerned about repetitive blows to the head over a long period of time, including what are called subconcussive blows — hitting a soccer ball with your head or two players colliding their helmets on the line of scrimmage in a football game. “It’s just common sense that repetitive injuries to a particular body part over a period of time is not necessarily a healthy thing for your body,” Halstead said. Repeated concussions and blows to the head increase risk for neurodegenerative diseases, including chronic traumatic encephalopathy (which has been prominently tied to football and boxing).

What is second impact syndrome?

Second impact syndrome is a rare but possibly deadly phenomenon in which a person sustains a traumatic brain injury while still recovering from a preexisting concussion, says Stacy Suskauer , the director of the Brain Injury Clinical Research Center at Kennedy Krieger Institute. “How we manage concussions is largely based around preventing a catastrophic second injury,” Suskauer said. Physicians say there is a “window of vulnerability” when an injured brain is more susceptible to another concussion and more severe injury. “We’re not 100 percent sure what it is in humans,” Podell said. “It’s a tough study to do, but if you use the rat model, it’s two days out to four or five days out. Somewhere in that time frame, you have to be real careful.”

How do concussions affect kids differently than adults?

We often think children have a miraculous ability to bounce back from an injury such as a broken bone, but “it’s the exact opposite” for a brain injury because a child’s brain is still developing, said Halstead. Children often take longer to recover from a concussion. Several brain injuries that accumulate over time can affect the “developmental path” for a child’s brain, Gioia said. Overall, about 7 percent of children have had concussions, according to 2020 data from the National Center for Health Statistics. But the risk goes up significantly with age. Among 12- to 17-year-olds, about 12 percent have had concussions. Among adults, 29 percent report having had a concussion.

Are some people predisposed to getting a concussion?

Physicians know that a previous concussion puts someone at higher risk for another one. Some people may also have a genetic risk. Research has identified “genetic markers” that may make it more likely for a person to have symptoms of a concussion after a head injury, Lumba-Brown said. Gioia said he wished there were a way to recognize whether someone is at high risk of a concussion, but science isn’t there yet. Gioia said he’s part of a group investigating whether there are “biological factors,” such as a blood test or a brain scan, that could tell whether someone will take longer to recover from a concussion. Richard Sima contributed to this report.

McConnell has a concussion. Here’s what to know about this brain injury.

The senator is being treated for a concussion after a fall. We asked neurologists, physicians and others who study and treat concussions to answer common questions about head injuries.

By Teddy Amenabar

Updated March 9, 2023 at 4:01 p.m. EST|Published October 4, 2022 at 12:23 p.m. EDT

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8 min

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) suffered a concussion after a fall Wednesday and has been hospitalized for observation and treatment, his spokesman said Thursday.

When we fall, hit our head or are tackled to the ground, our brain can bounce or twist against the skull, resulting in a brain injury known as a concussion.

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We asked neurologists, physicians and others who study and treat concussions to answer common questions about head injuries. Here’s what they had to say.

McConnell has a concussion. Here’s what to know about this brain injury.

The senator is being treated for a concussion after a fall. We asked neurologists, physicians and others who study and treat concussions to answer common questions about head injuries.

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