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The brain is brilliant at survival, which can make your recovery more difficult.
A head injury can change everything. Your brain is smart - and adaptable. However, due to the nature of head injury or whiplash, your brain may stay locked into a protective response, long after the danger has passed, stalling your healing process.
If you’ve experienced a concussion or head injury, you know recovery can feel frustratingly slow. Even months later, you might still struggle with:
Poor cognitive function or brain fog
Trouble thinking or concentrating
Sensitivity to light, sound or movement
Mood changes like anxiety, irritability or depression
Anxiety, depression or irritability
Chronic headaches, chronic pain or body tension
Poor energy or sleep
For many patients, these symptoms can get worse over time after head injury and may not resolve even with rest, medication or therapy alone.
That’s where LENS neurofeedback, a form of brainwave disentrainment can make a big difference.
LENS (Low Energy Neurofeedback System) is a gentle, non-invasive brain training method. It works by sending a tiny, imperceptible radiowave signal through sensors placed on the scalp. The brain picks up on this signal, which is small enough to get underneath neuroprotective filters. This signal helps the brain outline and sense its own functioning, and the brain responds (the feedback) by releasing “stuck” and inefficient patterning created by injury or trauma.
Think of Traumatic Brain Injury like a traffic jam in the brain: after an accident, your brain compensates by protecting and slowing down blood flow and neural pathways around the injury, causing symptoms such as reduced cognitive functioning, headaches and brain/body scrambling.
Slowing down in one part of the brain affects other areas, and eventually entire areas of ‘the city’ become less efficient. It takes more and more energy to function in your life and things that were once easy, become a chore.
The LENS acts like traffic control, helping the brain sense these inefficiencies and access new resources (increased blood flow, neural signaling) to heal.
Your own brain provides the feedback, as it traces the tiny signal from LENS and exercises out of stuck, inefficient pathways.
Reduces Stress on the Body and the Brain – LENS is FDA cleared for Stress. The LENS calms overactive fight-or-flight responses, giving your brain and nervous system the support it needs to regulate and repair itself.
Restores Clarity – Patients often report clearer thinking, better focus, increased concentration and reduced brain fog.
Improves Sleep & Mood – By helping regulate the nervous system, LENS supports better sleep patterns and emotional balance.
Accelerates Progress in Therapy – When your brain is less stuck,it becomes receptive again to other treatments (cognitive, speech, vision, or physical therapy) often become more effective.
Releases NeuroMuscular Tension + Trauma Patterning - After an accident, the biggest challenge to the brain is the body. When the brain senses motor trauma, or neuromuscular patterns of gripping in response to an accident, functioning slows. The LENS can also be used on the body to release muscle tension, directly influencing the nervous system to repair neuromuscular or structural issues, recover from panic, anxiety or PTSD and reduce chronic pain signaling.
Small sensors are placed on the scalp and ears.
The system measures brainwave activity and sends back a signal slightly offset from what it reads.
Sessions are very brief — often just a few minutes of stimulation.
Entirely Passive! Patients don’t need to “do” anything — your brain does the work.
Most people find the process relaxing, and depending on sensitivity, patients experience gradual or faster changes in mood, energy and cognition as the nervous system reorganizes.
For 24-48 hours after a session, patients might experience responses based on nervous system changes such as: changes in energy, sleep, brief echoes of past symptoms, increased dreaming, or in the case of trauma - the release of memories without much emotional content.
If you’re still experiencing headaches, brain fog, cognitive slowing, mood swings, or sensitivity after a concussion, LENS may help.
Talk to your doctor and wait at least 2-4 weeks after a major concussion to give your brain time to rebalance, and then try a LENS session. It’s especially supportive when nothing else has worked, or for people who feel stuck in recovery. The LENS can even be helpful for people who are too sensitive to tolerate more stimulating therapies.
Citations:
Hammond, 2007 (Anosmia). Case reversal of anosmia post-head injury with LENS.
Hammond, 2010 (QEEG TBI case). Quantitative EEG improvement post-LENS.
ISNR Journal 2006 issues. Multiple TBI-related LENS case series.
Larsen, 2009. Theoretical fit of LENS for TBI.
Nelson & Esty, 2012. Veterans with TBI/PTSD – symptom reduction.
Nelson & Esty, 2015. Chronic TBI-related headaches improved with FNS.
Schoenberger et al., 2001. Early randomized trial—FNS in mild to moderate TBI.
St. Clair, 2008. TBI from AVM – LENS application report.
One of the most prominent symptoms of concussion is headache. After a concussive injury headaches are often the main symptom that impacts one’s daily functioning. One moment you might be effectively managing your pain and then the next thing you know you have a significant headache that causes you to stop what you are doing. Patients often remark, “It just came out of nowhere!”
When someone has a broken leg, it’s pretty obvious how we can be helpful. We can drive them places, open doors for them, carry their groceries, etc. Concussion is a different kind of injury. It is known as “the invisible injury” because it is not externally obvious to others. There’s no cast, no crutches, and it doesn’t even show up on a CT scan. The individual often struggles with thinking, overstimulation, and fatigue, among other things. Sometimes people aren’t sure what they can do to help. The answers may vary, depending on the individual, but here are some general tips for how to help someone you know who has had a concussion.
One of the things I hear frequently when I meet a new patient is, “All of a sudden I have to write everything down. I used to just remember things and now I’m totally overwhelmed. It’s SO frustrating!”
Let’s take a minute to analyze the situation and put things in perspective. Normally, you have a routine which may involve work, typical household chores, family obligations, etc. But now you’ve been hurt - maybe due to a fall, a sports injury, or a car crash. You’re not feeling like yourself, you’re tired and scared, and all of a sudden tasks are piling up. In addition to your usual responsibilities, you may be dealing with any or all of the following:
Physical symptoms: headaches, dizziness, nausea, sleep disturbance, etc.
Emotional symptoms: sadness, fear, anxiety, trauma, etc.
Medical appointments happening at different times on different days
Insurance companies
Work issues
Not having a car
Being unable to perform household chores
When we think of it that way, it’s a lot! You’ve had several things added to your plate, and it’s hard to juggle and remember everything that needs to be done.
Did you know that hearing impairment is a common symptom after sustaining a concussion? Many people are aware of post-concussive symptoms such as headaches, dizziness, or memory loss, but are less familiar with the possibility of hearing impairment. Some people experience hearing loss while others may experience symptoms such as difficulty processing auditory information, ringing in the ears, or sensitivity to noise. It varies significantly by person, but these symptoms can sometimes have a profound effect on your life.
You might be surprised to learn that even mild hearing impairment can impact a person’s life and daily functioning. In fact, research shows that even mild hearing impairment is associated with a faster rate of cognitive decline as well as an increased risk of dementia. In this blog, we’re going to discuss several examples of different areas of cognition that are directly impacted by a hearing impairment in addition to some tips to help you alleviate these challenges.
Fatigue is one of the most common symptoms our patients report after they experience a concussion. It can reveal itself physically, cognitively, or even emotionally. Our group of speech language pathologists at the Colorado Concussion Clinic often work with our patients to manage each type using a holistic and individualized approach to cognitive therapy. While there are many different ways to treat fatigue, here are four ways we might address it in therapy with you…
