Helping solve the hidden concussion epidemic
Learn About Concussions
Treatments and Self-Care
Start Here: Recovery Guidelines
How Concussions Affect Different Groups of People
For Professionals
We are a 501c3 nonprofit
STAY INFORMED: Sign up for updates on concussion research, news, webinars, and calls to participate in research studies
We are a coalition of people who care about brain health. What sets Concussion Alliance apart?
Unmatched online education for patients
Continuing education for professionals
A unique internship program for undergraduates
Supporting research – recruiting study participants
Comprehensive patient education
15 resources about concussion and related symptoms, mental health, PTSD, & more
25 resources on treatments & self-care and qualified providers
10 resources on risk reduction and treatment for affected populations (incl. women, veterans, children, workers, care disparities for BIPOC)
The Problem
Concussions are a global public health epidemic affecting tens of millions.
Both patients and providers face barriers to accessing current information about concussions, leaving patients in pain, frustrated, and lost in the healthcare system.
Our Mission
Our mission is to create resources to help everyone impacted by concussions learn how to manage recovery and to inform healthcare providers on current best practices.
Concussion patient Michelle Limmer talks about the challenges she faced getting appropriate care and how Concussion Alliance helped her recovery journey.
Continuing education for professionals
An innovative continuing medical education (CME) course and webinar
The Concussion Update Newsletter with biweekly updates on new research and news
Presentations to medical students
Online resources for school nurses and staff and mental health among high schoolers
Concussions are mild traumatic brain injuries (mild TBIs). TBIs are a public health epidemic and are eight times more common than breast cancer, AIDS, multiple sclerosis, and spinal cord injury combined.
1.77
concussions per second
Most TBIs worldwide are concussions (~56 million annually), which are a more serious injury than most people realize.
15–50% of patients have persisting symptoms for up to a year or longer.
Many doctors don’t know current guidelines for concussion care, and concussion follow-up “is particularly deficient.”
Concussion Education & Advocacy Internship Program
A unique service-learning internship program
8-week Summer Program
3-week December Program
Biweekly Expert Guest Speakers
28 undergraduate students trained per year
Appreciation for Concussion Alliance
Supporting concussion research
Recruiting participants for studies, including new concussion treatments
Providing Letters of Support to help research teams gain funding
Contributing to study designs and development of accreditation standards
Concussion Alliance leads the way in concussion education and care. But we can't do it without your support.
With your help, we are supporting concussion patients in their recovery with educational resources, keeping providers up-to-date on new research, educating the next generation of healthcare professionals, and changing the public perception of concussions to reflect the seriousness of this injury. We do not charge for our resources and rely on the caring and generosity of people like you.
Recent Blog Posts
In late March, the National Athletic Trainers’ Association released its updated recommendations for the management of sport-related concussions – a document that hadn’t been updated in over a decade.
A recent study published in JAMA Neurology by DeCarli et al. found that brain volumes and brain size are becoming progressively larger––based on MRI brain imaging observations of participants born between 1930 and 1970.
Ronda Rousey, a former MMA fighter, tells her story of her life-long experience with concussions and lasting health impacts in a recent interview with The Guardian.
A study published in JAMA Network Open challenges the existing idea that early childhood concussion may have relatively benign effects and highlights that postconcussive symptoms can be relatively long-lasting.
In a study published in Sports Health, Master et al. found that the existence of pre-injury mental health diagnoses correlated with longer concussion recovery time and increased emotional symptoms.
A six-year study in the Journal of Neurotrauma explored the impact of branched chain amino acids (BCAAs) on concussion recovery in adolescents and young adults.
A study conducted by Matthew Smith et al. and published in The Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine found that, in adolescent athletes, cooling therapy was associated with a significant decrease in post-concussion symptoms.
The journal Neurochemistry International recently published a review that details the role of mitochondria in traumatic brain injury (TBI).
As reported in a recent study, a massive open online course (MOOC) developed by Laval University (Quebec, Canada) offering education on concussion was found to have considerable success, suggesting courses like this could be an important tool for spreading concussion prevention and treatment information in the future.
In the 2023 Women’s World Cup, there was a new introduction to the state of play for the tournament: concussion spotters. Spotters are certified athletic trainers not tied to any specific team.
A study found that there was a small, not statistically relevant relationship between greater neck strength and a lower risk of sustaining a sports-related concussion in athletes.
A study found that athletes who used cannabis regularly had better eye focus ability and lower levels of brain inflammation compared to the non-cannabis group after repetitive subconcussive head impacts.
A study published in JAMA Network Neurology found that “repetitive heading during a professional soccer career is associated with an increased risk of cognitive impairment later in life” and self-reported dementias in retired male professional soccer players
A recent report by Memmini and colleagues identifies key principles of return-to-learn for college athletes to explore how non-athletes fare in the college classroom after a concussion.
Concussion Alliance Co-Founders Conor Gormally and Malayka Gormally are featured in a powerful and excellently written story written by Isobel Whitcomb for Slate Magazine (Slate Magazine USA).
In October 2023, Willie Stewart et al. published a paper in Acta Neuropathologica demonstrating an association between the development of CTE and the length of a person’s rugby career.
A study published in Biological Psychiatry
found that concussions may alter the trajectory of white matter maturation in female children and that this alteration may play a role in the onset of new depression and anxiety after concussion.
Findings from a recent study in Nature Mental Health exploring the gut-brain-microbiota axis revealed that those who adhered to a Mediterranean diet experienced reduced PTSD symptoms,
In a recent study, Lily Li-Wen Wang et al. found that macrophage-adhering GLAMs can be used to identify the presence of mild traumatic brain injuries (mTBIs) that do not show up on standard MRI brain scans.
A study published in The Journal of Neuroscience found that in mice, memory loss after being subjected to a high frequency of mild head impacts was linked to a deficiency in synaptic plasticity rather than “a loss of neural infrastructure.” There is the possibility that “cognitive impairment caused by head impact” could be clinically reversed.
A study published in Sports Medicine showed the recovery trajectories for both sexes to be quite similar. However, the study authors note that females have a greater overall symptom burden during their recovery period.
The Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics published a study that found a significant correlation between children who sustain mild traumatic brain injuries (mTBIs/concussions) and risk of developing affective disorders (anxiety, depression, OCD, or adjustment disorders) and behavioral disorders (ADHD or Conduct Disorder) within four years post-injury.
On February 28, the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Personnel held a hearing about traumatic brain injury from repeated blast exposure for U.S. service members. Senator Elizabeth Warren, Chairwoman of the subpanel, led the two-hour hearing in which senators questioned experts. Senator Warren said, “We need to do better for our troops, and we need to do it right now.”
A recent study has found that acupuncture has a statisticcally significant effect on reducing symptoms of PTSD.
The Journal of Neurotrauma recently published a study comparing conventional rehabilitation to high-intensity training (HIT) in patients with moderate-to-severe traumatic brain injury. Compared to rehabilitation, high-intensity training participants showed better outcomes in the physical tests used to measure locomotive outcomes (6-min walk test and peak treadmill speed). There were also more improvements in aerobic capacity and cognitive functioning after HIT.
A landmark study published in Nature Medicine found that ibogaine, an “atypical psychedelic” derived from the root bark of an African shrub, showed highly beneficial effects on emotional well-being and cognition in a group of Special Operations Forces (SOF) veterans with chronic illness relating to their military careers and history of traumatic brain injury (TBI), primarily mild TBIs.
The Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation dedicated its latest issue to chronic pain after TBI, featuring a series of ten papers. A press release by UW Medicine describes the team’s survey findings that about 60% of the 3,800 patients from the TBI cohort reported current or previous chronic pain.
There is a significant gap in knowledge and guidance on handling IPV-related injuries among medical providers. To address this gap, Canadian organizations have collaborated to develop a resource to aid healthcare professionals in understanding and managing these injuries effectively.
In Sex with a Brain Injury, On Concussion and Recovery, author Annie Liontas tells how their injuries have affected every area of their lives, including sex, marriage, work, and sense of self.
Concussion can alter heart function through an upset to the autonomic nervous system (ANS), part of the nervous system in charge of involuntary body processes, such as the heart beating, breathing, and digestion.