{"id":3814,"date":"2018-07-30T13:37:00","date_gmt":"2018-07-30T18:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.osfhealthcare.org\/blog\/?p=3814"},"modified":"2025-06-11T15:05:44","modified_gmt":"2025-06-11T20:05:44","slug":"myths-about-concussions-increase-the-risk-of-harmful-effects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/myths-about-concussions-increase-the-risk-of-harmful-effects\/","title":{"rendered":"Myths about concussions increase the risk of harmful effects"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Download<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Concussion awareness is on the rise as work progresses to understand the causes and effects. However, while research is shedding new light on concussions, and old assumptions are being re-evaluated, there are a lot of misconceptions out there.<\/p>\n

We spoke with Jenna Ford, APN,<\/a> who manages pediatric concussions for the OSF HealthCare Illinois Neurological Institute Concussion Clinic, to tackle the most common misconceptions and set the facts straight.<\/p>\n

Myth: A concussion can only be caused by a direct blow to your head<\/h2>\n

A concussion is caused by rapid movement of the brain inside the skull. It can be caused by a blow to the head or by enough force applied to the chest, neck or any other part of the body.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people think they\u2019re fine because they didn\u2019t hit their head, but things like motor vehicle crashes, falls in the home or being struck by an object can cause a concussion,\u201d Ford said.<\/p>\n

Myth: If you didn\u2019t lose consciousness, you didn\u2019t have a concussion<\/h2>\n

Only about 10 percent of concussions occur with a loss of consciousness. When there is a loss of consciousness, it is often brief, lasting for just a moment.<\/p>\n

If someone has had a concussion, symptoms<\/a> will begin to show within 24 hours of the injury.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe symptoms can be subtle and written off as indicators of daily stress, so you need to be aware if you\u2019ve had a physical event that could cause a chemical change that changes how the brain normally works,\u201d Ford said.<\/p>\n

Myth: All concussions are the same for everybody<\/h2>\n

Even if you\u2019ve suffered a concussion before, the next one could have a completely different cause and symptoms and require a different amount of time and type of treatment for recovery. Every concussion is different, and most people recover within a few weeks after injury, with the first 10 days being the time of the greatest risk of repeat injury.<\/p>\n

Myth: You must stay in a dark room to recover from a concussion<\/h2>\n

Concussion is not a one-size-fits-all condition and treatment is individualized for every unique case.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou make somebody sit in a dark room with no screens or anything and they\u2019re going to go crazy,\u201d Ford said. \u201cGenerally, we advise two or three days to limit non-essential cognitive and physical demands that take away energy needed for brain healing.\u201d<\/p>\n

If symptoms are stable after that, you can start to gradually resume normal daily activities, initially avoiding activities that are heavily taxing or require prolonged focus. If symptoms worsen or return, decrease your activities and try again to increase your activities gradually.<\/p>\n

Myth: Helmets prevent concussions<\/h2>\n

Helmets prevent cuts and skull fractures, but they haven’t been proven to prevent the internal motion of the brain inside the skull that causes concussions.<\/p>\n

However, equipment should fit properly, be worn at all times, meet manufacturer standards and be inspected each season for proper fit to prevent injuries that may complicate and prolong your recovery from a concussion.<\/p>\n

Myth: Only athletes are at risk of concussion<\/h2>\n

Data from the Centers for Disease Control show sports is not the number one cause of concussions. For the younger and older age groups, it\u2019s falls within the home. For the ages in between, motor vehicle crashes, assault and being struck by an object are the top causes.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of concussions tend to go unrecognized because people associate concussions with sports and don\u2019t think they could have suffered one,\u201d Ford said.<\/p>\n

Fact: If you show any signs of a concussion, you need to seek treatment.<\/h2>\n

We don\u2019t yet have enough evidence to know what, when and how bad the long-term effects of concussions might be. What we know for sure is that we all only have one brain. You don\u2019t want to risk permanent, irreversible damage.<\/p>\n

The OSF INI Concussion Clinic has several advanced practice providers trained in concussion management. The team treats pediatrics, adolescents and adults. If you think you or a loved one has suffered a concussion, you can call the referral center at (877) 464-6670 and schedule a concussion evaluation.<\/p>\n

For more tips on identifying and responding to concussions, visit the Concussion Clinic web page.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Concussion awareness is on the rise as work progresses to understand the causes and effects. However, while research is shedding new light on concussions, and old assumptions are being re-evaluated, there are a lot of misconceptions out there. We spoke with Jenna Ford, APN, who manages pediatric concussions for the OSF HealthCare Illinois Neurological Institute […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":3822,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"no","footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[379,806,786,755],"coauthors":[692],"class_list":["post-3814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-neurosciences","tag-concussion","tag-infographic","tag-myths","tag-osf-ini"],"yoast_head":"\nMyths about concussions increase the risk of harmful effects<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Jenna Ford, APN, who manages pediatric concussions for the OSF Illinois Neurological Institute Concussion Clinic, addresses myths and facts.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/myths-about-concussions-increase-the-risk-of-harmful-effects\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Myths about concussions increase the risk of harmful effects [Infographic]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Jenna Ford, APN, who manages pediatric concussions for the OSF Illinois Neurological Institute Concussion Clinic, addresses myths and facts.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/myths-about-concussions-increase-the-risk-of-harmful-effects\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"OSF HealthCare Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/osfhealthcare\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-07-30T18:37:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-06-11T20:05:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/concussion.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ken Harris\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Myths about concussions increase the risk of harmful effects [Infographic]\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Jenna Ford, APN, who manages pediatric concussions for the OSF Illinois Neurological Institute Concussion Clinic, addresses myths and facts.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.osfhealthcare.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/concussion.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@osfhealthcare\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@osfhealthcare\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ken Harris\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/myths-about-concussions-increase-the-risk-of-harmful-effects\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/myths-about-concussions-increase-the-risk-of-harmful-effects\/\",\"name\":\"Myths about concussions increase the risk of harmful effects\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/myths-about-concussions-increase-the-risk-of-harmful-effects\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/myths-about-concussions-increase-the-risk-of-harmful-effects\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/concussion.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-07-30T18:37:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-11T20:05:44+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/99db8faf7294806788c8cabb2f164061\"},\"description\":\"Jenna Ford, APN, who manages pediatric concussions for the OSF Illinois Neurological Institute Concussion Clinic, addresses myths and facts.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/myths-about-concussions-increase-the-risk-of-harmful-effects\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/myths-about-concussions-increase-the-risk-of-harmful-effects\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/myths-about-concussions-increase-the-risk-of-harmful-effects\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/concussion.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/concussion.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/myths-about-concussions-increase-the-risk-of-harmful-effects\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Myths about concussions increase the risk of harmful effects\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"OSF HealthCare Blog\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/99db8faf7294806788c8cabb2f164061\",\"name\":\"Ken Harris\",\"description\":\"Ken Harris is the proudest father and was a writing coordinator for the Marketing & Communications division of OSF HealthCare. He has a bachelor's in journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and worked as a daily newspaper reporter for four years before leaving the field and eventually finding his way to OSF HealthCare. In his free time, Ken likes reading, fly fishing, hanging out with his dog and generally pestering his lovely, patient wife.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/osfhealthcare.org\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/author\/kharris\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Myths about concussions increase the risk of harmful effects","description":"Jenna Ford, APN, who manages pediatric concussions for the OSF Illinois Neurological Institute Concussion Clinic, addresses myths and facts.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/myths-about-concussions-increase-the-risk-of-harmful-effects\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Myths about concussions increase the risk of harmful effects [Infographic]","og_description":"Jenna Ford, APN, who manages pediatric concussions for the OSF Illinois Neurological Institute Concussion Clinic, addresses myths and facts.","og_url":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/myths-about-concussions-increase-the-risk-of-harmful-effects\/","og_site_name":"OSF HealthCare Blog","article_publisher":"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/osfhealthcare","article_published_time":"2018-07-30T18:37:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-06-11T20:05:44+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/concussion.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Ken Harris","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Myths about concussions increase the risk of harmful effects [Infographic]","twitter_description":"Jenna Ford, APN, who manages pediatric concussions for the OSF Illinois Neurological Institute Concussion Clinic, addresses myths and facts.","twitter_image":"https:\/\/www.osfhealthcare.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/concussion.jpg","twitter_creator":"@osfhealthcare","twitter_site":"@osfhealthcare","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ken Harris","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/myths-about-concussions-increase-the-risk-of-harmful-effects\/","url":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/myths-about-concussions-increase-the-risk-of-harmful-effects\/","name":"Myths about concussions increase the risk of harmful effects","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/myths-about-concussions-increase-the-risk-of-harmful-effects\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/myths-about-concussions-increase-the-risk-of-harmful-effects\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/concussion.jpg","datePublished":"2018-07-30T18:37:00+00:00","dateModified":"2025-06-11T20:05:44+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/99db8faf7294806788c8cabb2f164061"},"description":"Jenna Ford, APN, who manages pediatric concussions for the OSF Illinois Neurological Institute Concussion Clinic, addresses myths and facts.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/myths-about-concussions-increase-the-risk-of-harmful-effects\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/myths-about-concussions-increase-the-risk-of-harmful-effects\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/myths-about-concussions-increase-the-risk-of-harmful-effects\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/concussion.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/concussion.jpg","width":1200,"height":630},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/myths-about-concussions-increase-the-risk-of-harmful-effects\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Myths about concussions increase the risk of harmful effects"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/","name":"OSF HealthCare Blog","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/99db8faf7294806788c8cabb2f164061","name":"Ken Harris","description":"Ken Harris is the proudest father and was a writing coordinator for the Marketing & Communications division of OSF HealthCare. He has a bachelor's in journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and worked as a daily newspaper reporter for four years before leaving the field and eventually finding his way to OSF HealthCare. In his free time, Ken likes reading, fly fishing, hanging out with his dog and generally pestering his lovely, patient wife.","sameAs":["http:\/\/osfhealthcare.org"],"url":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/author\/kharris\/"}]}},"modified_by":"Jeff Rowden","featured_image_url":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/concussion.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3814"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3814\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19271,"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3814\/revisions\/19271"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3814"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=3814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}