Physical activity and exercise after concussion in children and adolescents with Dr. Isabelle Gagnon

In this episode, I talked to Dr. Isabelle Gagnon, who is an Associate Professor in the School of Physical and Occupation Therapy at McGill University, in Montreal, Canada. She is an expert in the study of concussion in children and adolescents and, the use of exercise as a potential intervention to reduce post-concussion symptoms. We start this episode talking about how frequent concussions are, how it is diagnosed, and the most common signs and symptoms. We also talk about why, in some cases, post-concussion symptoms are persistent and are difficult to get rid of including the psychological component of this type of event. We discuss if exercise can be used as a rehabilitation tool, how early can exercise be introduced after the concussion and if it really matters at all. This episode is interesting because it shows the bad and the good of exercise. Concussions tend to happen during exercise, symptoms post-concussion can be triggered with exercise, but we can potentially use exercise to reduce the persistent symptoms of concussion in some individuals. You can follow Isabelle's work at: https://www.mcgill.ca/spot/isabelle-gagnon