When in a chaotic and unpredictable environment, you depend on the ability of your brain to quickly process all that is going on around you. This is called processing speed. Subconcussions can reduce the speed at which you are able to process the information that is sent to your brain. This ultimately slows down the… Continue reading Processing Speed
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No Such Thing As Home Field Advantage
In sports they like to talk a lot about home field advantage, and often use it as a justification for poor performance. While the focus is often on the psychological impact, I think it reflects poorly training situational awareness. When you breakdown disadvantages of not playing on your home turf it is either changes in… Continue reading No Such Thing As Home Field Advantage
Speed And Precision
Subconcussions can lead to a decrease in speed and precision due to the impact on the vestibular system and brain communication (functional connectivity). If a target presents itself in your central vision, and the appropriate reaction is to quickly drop to one knee to maximize your cover, you want to do so at your fastest… Continue reading Speed And Precision
Barotrauma
Barotrauma is injury due to blast exposure. It is a unique subconcussive exposure that tactical athletes are exposed to. There are a lot of different ways that tactical athletes are exposed to barotrauma, – IED – Grenades – Breaching explosives – Weapon fire The most cumulative exposure of subconcussive events is weapon fire due to… Continue reading Barotrauma
Injury Prevention
A byproduct of improving the speed and efficiency of the vestibular and somatosensory systems for situational awareness is injury prevention. Often overlooked, these two systems working together at a high level can improve readiness by reducing common injuries. An example of such common injuries are ankle sprains. The somatosensory system senses that the ankle has… Continue reading Injury Prevention
The 4 Situational Awareness Systems
Situational awareness utilizes 4 main systems. 1. Visual 2. Auditory 3. Vestibular 4. Somatosensory You probably recognize the importance of your vision and hearing on situational awareness, but the other two are equally important to maintaining situational awareness. The vestibular system is in your inner ear, it allows you to keep a target in focus… Continue reading The 4 Situational Awareness Systems
Situational Awareness And Subconcussions
As a Physical Therapist working at Joint Base Lewis-McChord I started a clinic to help those with dizziness and balance issues. In that clinic I noticed a trend of soldiers nearing retirement who came in with difficulty maintaining a high level of situational awareness in a more complex environment. Examples of this include difficulty keeping… Continue reading Situational Awareness And Subconcussions
CTE Resources
CTE, short for chronic traumatic encephalopathy, is one of the most serious considerations of repeated exposure to subconcussive forces. There are a lot of great scientists who are dedicating their careers to understanding CTE. I am not an expert in CTE so I want to offer you some of the resources the experts in CTE… Continue reading CTE Resources
The 4 Subconcussive Exposures
I like to classify potential mechanisms of subconcussive injuries into 4 different categories. This helps me to organize my mind when thinking about an individual or teams’ most likely exposures, as well as come up with solutions to mitigate exposure wherever possible. Here are the following 4 categories of subconcussive exposure I use: 1. Direct… Continue reading The 4 Subconcussive Exposures