It is that Friday Night Moment when your child is hit on the football field and you are rendered breathless; it is the exhale of relief when he gets up and moves onto the next play.
Only for Lisa and Russell Tieskoetter, that moment remained unresolved as they watched their son, Brody, a senior at South Winneshiek High School, seem to wander away from the huddle in apparent confusion.
The tackle happened mid-air and Brody Tieskoetter landed hard, hitting his head against the ground. He passed the initial concussion testing on the sideline rendered by WinnMed Athletic Trainer, Heather Lange. However, he did not demonstrate stability and so Heather kept him out of the game.
His symptoms didn’t appear in earnest until the following Monday, when at a college visit, he had a hard time walking down a flight of stairs. Lisa says, “We called Heather and explained what was happening. She replied that he likely did suffer a concussion at that game, had a delay in symptoms, and to seek treatment.”
Brody says, “I had fully expected to be recovered before football playoffs, but then the concussion symptoms continued, and my basketball season was delayed. It felt like my senior year was falling apart.”
In the following months Brody worked with a team of sports medicine specialists at WinnMed to manage his recovery as he continued to experience extreme light and sound sensitivity, headaches and fatigue. In addition to Heather at the school, his care team included Scott Bohner D.O., a Mayo Clinic Health System family medicine physician; Becky Gesing, ARNP, Brody’s primary care provider in WinnMed’s Ossian Clinic; and Sarah Anderson, DPT, and Kent Ingvalson, DPT, both physical therapists in the WinnMed Rehab and Sports Medicine department who specialize in concussion and vestibular physical therapy. Dr. Bohner says, “Brody was not the typical concussion patient and required ‘all hands-on deck’ to help him recover. It truly was a multispecialty approach.”
Together, the team provided Brody and his family the testing, exercises, medications and at-home strategies to help him recover. They engaged optometry to rule out physical problems with his eyes, and mental health care to help him manage the extreme anxiety he was feeling.
Brody’s care team continued to pursue his goal of re-entering athletics and his concussion symptoms slowly improved. By the spring, Brody had one lingering symptom – a headache – that would come in direct response to an increase in Brody’s heart rate. He trained with his therapists to find the trigger point and worked to extend that point through monitored exercise. One of Brody’s physical therapists, Kent Ingvalson, says, “We utilize a test called the Buffalo Concussion Treadmill Test to assess the patient’s autonomic response to physical activity. The results of the test allow us to safely work to retrain the autonomic nervous system’s response to exertion. This allows us to gradually and safely return to patient back to school, sports and work-related activities.”
Brody says, “My entire senior year was difficult. I struggled in my classes because it was hard to concentrate and missed a lot of school. But I had a great network around me from care team, friends and teachers. And my parents… they never doubted me and were my advocates the entire time.”
Brody continues, “Concussions are a silent injury. When you have a broken leg or arm, or a torn ACL, people believe you are injured because they see the cast or brace. People don’t always believe you have a concussion – they see someone who is always on the bench. My advice to parents, students and fans is to respect the athlete, even if you cannot see physical injury. I would have done nearly anything to be playing, but my health and recovery had to come first.”
Reflecting back over his year, Brody is thankful for the decisions he and his family made regarding his health. He says, “I have no regrets. Yes, I missed most of my senior sports, but I have the rest of my life to think about. This year was a moment in time, and I am looking forward to my future.”
Visit MayoClinic.org for more information on concussion.
Photo Credit: Amy Buddenberg
