Concussion clinic
You shouldn't have to guess what happens next.
Concussion Treatment & Baseline Testing in Simcoe, Ontario
A hit in a game, a fall at home, an accident at work, a collision on the highway. However it happened, concussion care here follows a staged process led by a clinician with advanced certification, so you always know what the plan is.
Start here
How do you know you might have a concussion?
You do not have to be knocked out, and most people are not. You do not even need a direct hit to the head: a concussion happens when force makes the brain move quickly inside the skull, and a hard enough hit to the body, like whiplash in a crash, snaps the head back and forth fast enough to do exactly that. The signs can take hours to show up, which is why so many concussions are missed, why a "minor" one gets shrugged off, and why "wait and see" is such an uncomfortable phrase to hear.
Symptoms usually fall into four groups. Any of them, in the hours or days after an impact, is worth having looked at properly. Concussion care is part of our team approach to care in Simcoe. Our physiotherapy and chiropractic clinicians work alongside each other to bring a team approach to your care.
Physical
- Headache or pressure
- Dizziness or balance trouble
- Nausea
- Sensitivity to light or noise
- Blurred vision
- Fatigue or low energy
Thinking
- Feeling foggy or slowed down
- Confusion or feeling dazed
- Trouble concentrating
- Trouble remembering the event or recent things
- Answering questions slowly
Mood
- Irritability
- Feeling more emotional
- Anxiousness
- Not feeling like yourself
Sleep
- Sleeping more or less than usual
- Trouble falling asleep
- Drowsiness through the day
When it is an emergency, not an appointment
Go to the emergency department or call 911 for a worsening headache, repeated vomiting, seizures, weakness or numbness, slurred speech, unusual behaviour, or if the person cannot be woken. Those signs need a hospital, not a clinic, and this page is not a substitute for emergency assessment.
Who we see
Concussions do not only happen in sport
Hockey and football are the ones people picture, and we understand both. Our patients also play rugby, soccer and volleyball, and some arrive after an equestrian fall. A lot of injuries have nothing to do with a game at all: a fall on the ice outside the house, a hit on the job site, a rear-end collision on the way home.
The recovery process is the same shape whoever you are. What changes is what we are getting you back to, which is why the plan starts by asking. If your concussion came from a crash or a workplace injury, there is likely a claim attached, and that has its own path: car accident rehab or WSIB rehab in Simcoe.
Worth the drive
Advanced concussion management is not widely available in this part of the province. Patients travel in from Brantford, Woodstock and Tillsonburg for this level of care, and wherever you are coming from, we start the same way: making sure the care process is right for you.
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How care works
A staged path back, with a checkpoint at every step
Concussion recovery is not one long wait in a dark room. Modern concussion therapy moves you forward deliberately, and each stage has to hold before the next one starts. Concussion care here is led by Dr. Steve Martinow, Shift Concussion Management Advanced Level 2.
Assessment
A full history of the impact and your symptoms, plus testing of balance, eye movement, the neck and your tolerance for effort. If you are an athlete with a baseline test on file, we compare you against your own healthy numbers rather than an average.
Early recovery
A short, structured period of relative rest, then a return to light activity sooner than most people expect. We tell you what to do, not only what to avoid.
Return to learn or work
Building back concentration and screen tolerance in steps, with practical accommodations you can hand to a teacher or an employer.
Return to activity
Graded exertion, adding load and complexity while we watch how symptoms respond, and treating the neck and balance problems that often outlast the headache.
Return to sport
The last stage, and only once the earlier ones hold. Non-contact drills before contact, full training before a game, and clearance handled properly rather than rushed.
We will not put a date on it
Every honest clinician will tell you the same thing: recovery timelines vary from person to person, and anyone promising a specific number of weeks is guessing. What we will give you is exactly which stage you are in, what has to happen before the next one, and an appointment to reassess.
For parents and coaches
Baseline testing, before the season starts
A baseline test measures how your athlete's brain performs when it is healthy: memory, reaction time, concentration, balance. It takes one appointment, and it goes in the file.
If they take a hit later that season, we are no longer comparing them to a population average and guessing whether they seem like themselves. We are comparing them to them. That is the difference between a judgement call and a measurement, and it is the single most useful thing a parent can do before a season rather than during one.
Baseline testing is worth most for contact and collision sports, but any parent who has watched a kid try to talk their way back onto the ice knows why an objective number helps.
Teams and associations
We work with sports teams and associations at every level on whole-roster baseline testing, so a team can arrive together and leave with a file on every player.
If you coach or sit on a board in Norfolk County and want to talk through what that looks like for your season, get in touch and we will map it out with you.
Before you book
Nervous about the first appointment?
Most people arriving with a concussion, or bringing their child in with one, have already read too much on the internet and are braced for bad news. The first appointment is mostly listening and testing, and you leave with an explanation you can repeat to somebody else if you need to.
If it helps to know who you would be sitting with first, meet the team at Achieve Movement. And if the injury also left you unable to train, sports injury rehabilitation may run alongside the concussion plan.
Do I need to see a doctor first?
A physician should be involved in a suspected concussion, particularly if there is any question about a more serious head injury. You do not need a referral to book with us, and we are glad to work alongside your family doctor rather than instead of them.
Good to know
Concussion questions we hear every week
It is worth it because it replaces a judgement call with a comparison. Without a baseline, everyone is guessing whether your athlete is back to normal; with one, we compare them against their own healthy numbers for memory, reaction time and balance. It takes a single appointment before the season.
You do not have to lose consciousness to have one, and symptoms can take hours to appear. Watch for headache, dizziness, fogginess, sensitivity to light or noise, unusual irritability, or changes in sleep after any impact. Worsening headache, repeated vomiting, seizures or confusion are emergency signs and need a hospital, not a clinic.
A normal scan is good news and it does not mean nothing happened. CT and MRI look for bleeding and fractures, which is exactly what an emergency department needs to rule out, and they typically come back clear after a concussion. A concussion is a change in how the brain is working rather than something that shows up on a picture, so what we assess is function: balance, eye movement, the neck, and how much effort you can tolerate before symptoms climb.
No. Symptoms that linger well past the injury are a recognized part of concussion recovery for some people, and they are still worth assessing however long it has been. Headaches, dizziness, brain fog and neck pain that never fully settled are common reasons people come in long after the injury. We start the same way we would on day one: find out which systems are still not doing their job, then work through them in stages.
Yes, we run whole-roster baseline testing for sports teams and associations at every level. Get in touch and we will map out what it would take for your season, including scheduling the whole team in together.
It varies from person to person, and anyone giving you a specific number of weeks up front is guessing. What we can tell you at every appointment is which stage you are in, what has to hold before the next stage, and when we will reassess.
No referral is needed to book with us. A physician should still be involved in a suspected concussion, especially early on, and we are happy to work alongside your family doctor rather than instead of them.
Get a straight answer about that head injury
Book a free discovery call, or ask us about baseline testing before your season starts.
We direct bill most insurance companies; coverage depends on your plan and policy.