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October 14, 2026
A concussion is a type of traumatic brain injury. Our experts in neurology and sports medicine clear up some common misconceptions people have about this type of injury.
1. Myth: Only athletes have to worry about concussions.
Although contact sports do greatly increase your risk of a concussion, young children and older adults are also likely to experience a fall that causes a concussion. Research shows there are nearly 4 million concussions in the US every year, and we expect 50% of concussions are unreported so that number is likely much higher. Car crashes, falls and other collisions are likely to cause a concussion.
2. Myth: A concussion only happens when you hit your head.
Neurologist Michael Rippee, MD, says this is false.
“You don't have to actually get hit in the head. You can take a big jolt to the body,” says Dr. Rippee. “What happens is the brain starts to move around, and those neurons, the nerve cells or the brain cells, they’re kind of like extension cords. They plug in on one end and plug in on the other, and they talk to each other. When you start to stretch and pull those and twist those, how they work starts to change, and so we get what's called metabolic dysfunction.”
Dr. Michael Rippee: You don't have to actually get hit in the head. You can take a kind of a big jolt to the body. But what happens is the brain starts to move around, and those neurons, the nerve cells or the brain cells, I kind of call them, like, extension cords. They plug in on one end and plug in on the other, and they talk to each other. When you start to stretch and pull those and twist those, how they work starts to change, and so we get what's called the metabolic dysfunction. Right, this is a great picture here: the brain moving around there, and so you can imagine those nerve cells start to kind of stretch and pull apart.
Alexis Del Cid: Is it really able to slosh around like that, like we saw in that the dummy?
Dr. Michael Rippee: Yep, absolutely Jell-o. It just sloshes around in there. It's about the consistency of Jell-o, so it moves. So, you want to try to keep it from sloshing around as much as possible.
So, if it isn’t enough to watch for a hit to the head, what should someone be looking for?
Our physicians reference a study that says if someone gets up following a fall, hit or collision and grabs their head, it’s likely they’ve sustained enough impact to cause a concussion.
3. Myth: if you have a headache after getting hit, then you have a concussion
“Headache by far is the most common symptom, and yet I say headache alone typically doesn't tell us it's a concussion,” says sports medicine physician David Smith, MD. “The most telling one would be they feel like they're in a fog. Like I'm swimming underwater and things are just kind of weird.”
Other common symptoms are:
- Dizziness
- Irritability or mood changes
- Memory impairment
- Nausea
- Neck pain
4. Myth: You should wake someone up every hour following a concussion.
Sleep is actually very important to concussion recovery. If you’re waking them up, they get irritable and aren’t well rested.
“Typically, before they go to bed, you ought to check on them and make sure they're not getting a lot worse. And if they are (getting worse), you take them to the emergency department,” says Dr. Smith.
But if they are acting normally and ready to go to bed, let them sleep. Establishing a consistent bedtime and wake time is very important while recovering from a concussion.
5. Myth: Exercise is forbidden following a concussion.
It’s important to avoid exercise and athletics that could lead to hitting or jostling your head again in the weeks following your concussion.
However, getting your heart rate elevated and your blood flowing is beneficial to concussion recovery.
Dr. Smith advises that symptoms should improve before starting exercise, but for younger patients and athletes that often happens about 48 hours after the concussion. Walking is a great first step to elevating their heart rate.
“For an athlete, once their symptoms have markedly dissipated, they're in the classroom full time, working hard, then we can start more increased exercise. We may put them on an exercise bike, maybe a little jogging, some lifting, and then we start simulating the sport that they're going back to,” says Dr. Smith. “But we do not want any potential impact of the head until their brain is 100%.”
Dr. Rippee says he advises the same to his adult patients – walking or using a stationary bike can be safe ways to increase their heart rate and blood flow once symptoms are improving.
You don't have to actually get hit in the head. You can take a big jolt to the body.” - Michael Rippee, MD, neurologist
6. Myth: Screentime needs to be zero following a concussion.
There's research that shows that the screens in and of themselves probably don't affect recovery either way.
However, screentime doesn’t improve recovery so it is advised to limit overall exposure and use screen in shorter chunks of time. Dr. Rippee recommends the 20-20-20 rule.
“Every 20 minutes, you take 20 seconds and you look 20 feet away,” he says. “So, if you're on your computer, I say every 20 minutes you want to look down the hallway, out the window or away from that computer.”
Dr. Smith says don’t steal the phone from a teen to accomplish this.
“All that's going to do is make them mad,” he says. But then I turn to the athlete and say there's no room for video games, none, during concussion recovery.”