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 target focus when driving while it is dark and rainy with the windshield wipers on. Another was with mild dizziness when trail running when surrounded by the tall trees of the Pacific Northwest.
These were career soldiers in Special Operations or Infantry Brigade and had increasing difficulty in these areas over time but were able to “rub dirt on it” and continue their service. It wasn’t until they had their retirement papers in and had negative medical evaluations by three separate specialties did they come to see me.
I realized 3 things from this experience.
1. Soldiers value readiness, they do not have time to come in for help unless it is a significant issue that they can’t push through. They benefit from a proactive approach, not reactive.
2. They perform at a higher level and under more extreme conditions than the civilian population, therefore standard clinical assessments are not sensitive enough to their problems.
3. Repeated subconcussive exposure can have a negative impact on situational awareness, particularly in highly stimulating environments.
Situational awareness is vital for readiness and performance, particularly in positions where milliseconds count. I needed to provide the soldiers with a way to optimize the systems of situational awareness that were vulnerable to repeated subconcussions.
I started Subconcussive Consult, LLC to educate tactical athletes about subconcussive injuries, help mitigate their exposures, and facilitate training to optimize the systems needed for situational awareness that may be negatively impacted by subconcussions.
To learn more and to work with me, please email me at contact@subconcussiveconsult.com.