CHICAGO, IL, April 02, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- March is Brain Injury Awareness Month, and clinicians at The Neurologic Wellness Institute want the public to understand something that often gets lost in the conversation about concussion: recovery isn’t always just a matter of time.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, millions of Americans experience traumatic brain injuries each year, with many cases going underdiagnosed or undertreated. While some people recover quickly, others develop persistent symptoms — headaches, dizziness, brain fog, fatigue, mood changes, and difficulty concentrating — that can linger for months or years without proper intervention.
“Many patients are told their symptoms will resolve on their own, but that’s not always the case,” says Dr. David Traster, Chief Clinical Officer at The Neurologic Wellness Institute. “When symptoms persist, it often means that specific brain networks need targeted rehabilitation. With the right diagnostic tools and therapies, we can help the brain regain function and help patients return to the activities they love.”
Not All Concussions Are the Same
One of the most important advances in concussion care is the recognition that the injury doesn’t look the same from patient to patient. Depending on which brain systems are most affected, clinicians now identify several distinct subtypes — a distinction that directly shapes treatment.
The vestibular subtype affects networks responsible for balance and spatial orientation, producing dizziness, vertigo, and motion sensitivity. The ocular-motor subtype disrupts eye movement coordination, causing blurred or double vision and headaches when reading. In the cognitive subtype, patients primarily struggle with brain fog, slowed thinking, and mental fatigue. Other patients develop post-traumatic migraine, in which the injury triggers migraine-like activity with throbbing headaches and light and sound sensitivity. The cervicogenic subtype involves neck injury alongside brain injury, with cervical dysfunction prolonging symptoms through altered proprioceptive input. And in the autonomic subtype, dysregulation produces lightheadedness, fatigue, and difficulty tolerating upright posture.
“Brain injuries rarely affect just one system,” Dr. Traster notes. “Vision, balance, cognition, and autonomic regulation are deeply interconnected. In many cases, patients have overlapping subtypes that all need to be addressed.”
Diagnosing What’s Often Missed
At The Neurologic Wellness Institute, clinicians perform comprehensive neurological evaluations that go well beyond standard imaging. Quantitative EEG brain mapping analyzes brainwave activity and functional connectivity. Digital eye movement recording captures subtle abnormalities in ocular motor control. Computerized dynamic posturography assesses balance and sensory integration, while pupil light reflex testing evaluates brainstem and autonomic function. Neurocognitive testing measures memory, attention, processing speed, and executive function.
“Brain injuries are often invisible, which makes them difficult to diagnose and deeply frustrating for patients,” Dr. Dr. Nick Schmidlkofer, DC, DACNB says. “Modern neuroscience has given us powerful tools to objectively measure brain function, identify disrupted networks, and guide targeted rehabilitation.”
Stimulating the Brain’s Capacity to Heal
Once underlying dysfunctions are identified, treatment programs are designed to stimulate neuroplasticity — the brain’s ability to reorganize and recover. Depending on a patient’s subtype profile, therapies may include vestibular rehabilitation, eye movement therapy, cognitive rehabilitation, neurofeedback training guided by QEEG findings, GyroStim vestibular stimulation, and Senaptec Sensory Station training. Additional approaches may include hyperbaric oxygen therapy, photobiomodulation, vagus nerve stimulation, and functional medicine strategies targeting metabolic and inflammatory contributors to brain health.
Brain Injury Awareness Month is a reminder that concussion is a serious medical condition — one that deserves more than a wait-and-see approach when symptoms persist.
“The brain has a remarkable capacity to heal,” Dr. Michael Drzewiecki, Director of Clinical Neuroscience at the Neurologic Wellness Institute, says. “But sometimes it needs the right help to get there.”
About The Neurologic Wellness Institute
With locations in Chicago, IL; Wood Dale, IL; Waukesha, WI; and Boca Raton, FL, The Neurologic Wellness Institute specializes in personalized, innovative treatments for neurological, mental, and physical health conditions using evidence-based functional neurology approaches. For more information, visit neurologicwellnessinstitute.com.
https://thenewsfront.com/brain-injury-awareness-month-why-wait-and-see-isnt-always-enough/
Neurologic Wellness Institute https://neurologicwellnessinstitute.com/ press@neurologicwellnessinstitute.com
