Think you might have a concussion?

The basics

When your head takes a hit, your brain moves around inside your skull. Even without a direct impact to the head, a sudden jolt — like a car accident or a heavy tackle — can do the same thing.

This movement stretches and disrupts brain cells and triggers a rush of chemicals that temporarily throws your brain's balance off. Think of it like a power surge — everything goes haywire for a moment and then the system has to work overtime to get back to normal.

That's why you feel foggy, tired, headachy and off — your brain is genuinely working harder than usual just to do everyday things.

Why rest matters

Your brain needs energy to recover — and right now it has less energy available than usual. If you push through and try to do too much too soon, you're essentially asking an engine that's already struggling to run on full power.

This is why rest in the early stages matters. Not because you're fragile — but because giving your brain the space to recover actually speeds up the process.

How concussion affects movement and motor control

Something that often surprises people is how much a concussion can affect the way you move.

Your brain is constantly sending and receiving signals that coordinate your movement, balance and posture — even for things that feel completely automatic like walking, reaching for something or catching a ball. After a concussion, these signals can become disrupted in ways that are not always obvious at first.

You might notice things like:

• Feeling unsteady or off-balance, especially on uneven ground
• Slower reaction times — feeling like your body is a half-second behind
• Difficulty with tasks that require coordination, like driving, sport or fine motor work
• Fatigue that comes on quickly during physical activity
• Feeling worse after exercise or physical exertion

This happens because the cerebellum — the part of the brain responsible for timing, coordination and fine-tuning movement — is particularly sensitive to the effects of concussion. The connections between the cerebellum, brainstem and motor cortex can become disrupted, making movement feel effortful and less automatic than usual.

This is one of the reasons why returning to sport, driving or physically demanding work too soon after a concussion carries real risk — not just because of the chance of another injury, but because your motor control and reaction times may not be back to normal even when you feel like they are.

If you are noticing ongoing balance problems, coordination difficulties or motor symptoms that are not improving, this is worth discussing with a healthcare practitioner.

When symptoms stick around

For most people concussion symptoms settle within a few weeks. But for some people — especially if the concussion wasn't managed properly at the start — symptoms can linger for months.

This is called post-concussion syndrome and it's more common than people realise. The good news is that it's not permanent and there are effective ways to support recovery.

How we can help

At STEM Brain Centre we work with people who are still experiencing symptoms weeks or months after a concussion.

We look at how the brain's networks are communicating — where things have become disrupted — and use gentle, non-invasive approaches to support the brain's own recovery process.

If you're feeling like you're not quite right, or like you've been struggling longer than you expected — we'd be happy to have a conversation about whether we can help.