Further research is needed to determine how long the lower use of glucose persists after an injury and fully understand the effects. Patients in the UCLA study were found to be normal six months after the injury. Previous animal studies showed that the depressed level of glucose use can make a patient vulnerable to more severe damage after a repeated blow. But all the circumstantial evidence suggests that it may be. The study confirms some thing long suspected by the doctors who treat people who sustained brain injuries, said Dr. Gregory O'Shanick, national medical director of the Brain Injury Association.
Many people blow that off as being innocuous.
What this indicates is that clearly it's not. Anyone who suffers a head trauma should think twice before resuming normal activities immediately after the injury, O'Shanick said. Treat concussion as a sprain on the brain. You don't run on a sprained ankle immediately. All rights reserved.