Learn about Michael and his personal experience with concussion and rehabilitation with Advance Concussion Clinic.

It all happened so fast. I was on my way home, it was dark and the rain was coming down hard. I put my wipers at the fastest speed to clear my view, however even at that speed, I felt like it was not much help. I suddenly caught a big puddle, which sucked my car into the median, and as my car hit the median, my car spun across multiple lanes and then it came to a complete stop. Just like the movies…

I looked up after the accident and the first thing I saw was a light coming towards my way, a loud horn followed. The truck swerved and I could feel the vibrations of the vehicles. I got out of the car and realized that my headlights were damaged and my vision was blurry and I could barely process anything. An ambulance and fire truck arrived at the scene and said that I should go to the hospital to examine my head. I went to the hospital and there the doctor said I had suffered a mild concussion. I shared my accident online, where I was introduced to Advance Concussion Clinic from another individual that was involved in an accident as well. He explained to me how his doctor brushed him off with a “mild concussion” only to find out later it worsened.

I wish I have known about Advance Concussion earlier because I had many friends that suffered a concussion and it prevented them from progressing in life. I was taken through a series of exercises such as a reaction test, hearing, balance and vision. The knowledge that I gained in just two hours with Advance Concussion, I wish I knew before. With the help of Advance Concussion, I was able to resume gradually into my training and train with confidence not having to worry about my concussion. They provided me results and facts based on my performance during these examinations.

How a Concussion Inspired One Patient to Hit the Ground Running It’s ironic that it took a concussion for Amber Dukart to feel like a runner.

She recently completed a 10km run in Vancouver where she hit a personal record time, and has her eyes set on completing a half-marathon in the next year.

“I signed up for the run as a way to celebrate the end of my concussion and rehab,” says Amber.

Amber’s concussion journey began in February 2017 when she was standing in her living room and suddenly fainted. “I fell backwards and hit the base of my skull on the corner of the wall. I didn’t have time to sit down before I fainted and fell back and hit my head,” says Amber.

Over the next few days, she started to experience severe concussion symptoms and suddenly started to feel dizzy, nauseous and severely tired. “I was sitting at my desk at work and my eyes couldn’t see the computer screen,” she says.

Amber immediately went to see her doctor, and was diagnosed with a concussion. She suffered an agonizing year living with symptoms, and sought help from a massage therapist, chiropractor, acupuncturist who wasn’t able to treat her concussion.

“It was tough. I took a full month away from work and I had a gradual return to work program,” says Amber. “I was getting migraine headaches every day and I would basically just go to work and sleep because I was so exhausted. I was suffering through and I just hoped that overtime my symptoms would go away but they weren’t.”

It wasn’t until a year later until Amber sought help from Advance Concussion Clinic, where she received care from ACC’s interdisciplinary team of Physiotherapists, Occupational Therapists, Counsellors, Athletic Therapists and Neuropsychologist who was able to treat her various concussion symptoms.

“From the minute of walking through the door at ACC, I felt like I was being taken care of,” says Amber. “The draw for me was to work with a team who specialized in concussion.”

At ACC, Amber’s dedicated team worked with her over the course of a few months on her individualized rehabilitation program to get her symptom free.

“I never thought I would be able to live symptom free and I never understood that concussion is a treatable injury,” says Amber. “I don’t know if I actually believed it, but over time I honestly feel like I’m healthier than before I hit my head,”
Now, Amber is focused on her newfound passion of running, and training for that half-marathon in the near future.

“I’m just super grateful.”

After a 7-year journey, Peter Whitelaw is undoubtedly thrilled to fully recover from his concussion.
“I was riding my bicycle with my friends on my way to Horseshoe Bay and went through a corner and fell,” says Peter. “I had actually cracked my collarbone so I went to the hospital. I was slightly knocked out for a few seconds, but they didn’t think I had a concussion.”

It wasn’t until a few weeks after his accident in May 2012, that Peter began to experience concussion symptoms such as extreme fatigue and tension headaches.

At the time, Peter was working as a community planning consultant and soon found it difficult to cope with his symptoms and having to spend the majority of his time in front of a computer.

“Some of the stuff I was doing at the time was facilitating public meetings, which you could imagine with a concussion, are not easy to do,” says Peter. “It became very difficult to drive, and going to meetings was very challenging.”

After 3-4 weeks of living with his symptoms, Peter sought the help of his doctor who gave him an official concussion diagnosis and also advised him to stop work. His doctor referred him to a concussion rehab service, where their help was limited to simple lifestyle management advice. “At the time, there wasn’t nearly as much awareness as there is now about what can be done and how to manage different symptoms.”

Peter reduced his work schedule to 3 days a week, and lived with this new reality and his symptoms for years. He would often take several naps a day just to feel some relief from the fatigue.

“I was getting pretty frustrated and depressed,” says Peter. “I was starting to think I would never really get back to do the things I’d done before. That was frustrating and difficult to deal with.”

On a personal level, Peter says his concussion also impacted his ability to be social and see friends, since social interactions often left him feeling very tired and background noise made it hard to enjoy social settings.

In May 2019, Peter sought the help of ACC after seeing an advertisement and looking for some opportunity to improve his situation. ACC’s interdisciplinary team of concussion specialized Physiotherapists, Athletic Therapists, Counsellors, Occupational Therapists, and Neuropsychologist, was able to highlight some deficits for Peter, and help him recover and progress from the injury.

One of Peter’s biggest deficits was his Vestibular and Ocular-Motor function, which was identified via the VOMS test, which looks to identify the systems responsible for the integration of balance, vision and movement.

“I was pretty surprised by the disability in that area, and also really happy with how the treatment was done and the progression of my recovery.”

After several months of rehab with the ACC team, Peter fully recovered from his concussion and counts the quality of life, and productivity at work as his two biggest accomplishments.

“I’m way better than I was. I’m working for myself right now, and I’m perfectly capable to go back to work full-time.”