I get referrals for craniosacral therapy for people who have had concussions, and I want to help these folks heal. Not knowing what a doctor may (or may not — especially ER docs who are most concerned about intracranial bleeding and cracked skulls and not aftercare) have told them, I’m providing information here that may help those with injured brains recover more quickly.

People who’ve had concussions may report these symptoms and more: pain, dizziness or vertigo, balance issues, gait or coordination disturbance, vision changes, sensitivity to light and sound, language problems, confusion, lack of focus, forgetfulness, nausea, sleepiness, and/or emotional problems.

To clarify the language, concussions may also be called mild TBIs (traumatic brain injuries). People can get concussions from an impact, from being shaken (sudden deceleration, shaken baby syndrome), or from being close to an explosion.

To help you visualize what happens in a concussion, imagine your brain is like jello inside a closed hard container (the cranial bones) cushioned by a thin layer of water (cerebrospinal fluid), with substantial membranes (the meninges) separating the major parts (not shown in the image below).

A major impact slams the brain around inside the head, tearing brain cells. Damaged brain cells die, and recovery involves neuroplasticity — your brain grows new cells.

Research points to the corpus callosum, which connects and coordinates the left and right hemispheres, as the part receiving the most damage from concussions.