Project 467251

A concussion, also known as a mild traumatic brain injury, is caused by biomechanical forces. Due to the complexity of this injury, many individuals with a concussion still have persistent symptoms past the standard clinical recovery time (within 10-14 days for adults and 4 weeks for children). Current literature focuses on aerobic exercise intervention in concussion treatment of these symptoms. Researchers have found that aerobic exercise drastically reduces the symptom levels and leads to a faster full return to play/work compared to usual concussion care. In addition to aerobic exercise, there has been research targeting cervical and vestibular rehabilitation in concussion treatment, which included manual therapy. Although several studies have demonstrated the benefits of manual therapy among patients with whiplash associated disorders and chronic neck pain, there is only one study that utilized manual therapy as a part of concussion treatment. Therefore, the purpose of the proposed study is to create and implement a manual therapy protocol in concussion treatment among athletes with persistent concussion symptoms. This study would be the first study to examine the feasibility of a manual therapy protocol in concussion treatment and analyze symptom reduction and the return to play/work timeframe.