Brain Storm Episode 1: The Crash

Listen to the Brain Storm Series on the Feisty Women's Performance Podcast

On November 11th, 2021, on day three of a solo multi-day ride on Arizona’s Coconino Trail, seven-time world champion adventure athlete Rebecca Rusch clipped her handlebars on a protruding rock, launching her from her bike and into a ravine 10 feet below, where she hit the ground with enough force to bounce multiple times, breaking her helmet and badly bruising her ribs. After self-rescuing off the trail, Rebecca did what pretty much everyone told her to do: rest up and recover. Her ribs mended. Her brain, which had clearly been concussed, didn't. Now, going on three years later, we revisit the crash, what she did in the immediate aftermath, and how experts are thinking about the acute phases of concussion recovery today.

Rebecca Rusch is an adventure athlete, 7x World Champion, and 2x Hall of Fame inductee for mountain biking and gravel cycling. She is also a keynote speaker, the bestselling author of Rusch to Glory, and an Emmy Award winner for the documentary Blood Road about her journey to find the spot where her father, a US Air Force pilot, was shot down during the Vietnam War. She is also the founder of the Be Good™ Foundation, which is dedicated to transforming individuals and communities by using the bicycle as a catalyst for healing, empowerment, and evolution. You can learn more about her and her work at rebeccarusch.com.

This episode also features an interview with Christopher Vaughan, Psy.D., who presented on Rest and the Treatment of Concussion at the 12th Annual Sports Neuropsychology Society Symposium earlier this year. Dr. Vaughan is a pediatric neuropsychologist in the Division of Pediatric Neuropsychology at Children’s National Hospital. He is also Associate Professor, in the departments of Pediatrics & Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at George Washington University School of Medicine, and is Fellow and Treasurer, at the Sports Neuropsychology Society. You can learn more about him and his work at Christopher Vaughan, Psy.D.

Research and Resources:

Concussion Services at UPMC

The Sports Neuropsychology Society (SNS)

Rest and exercise early after sport-related concussion: a systematic review and meta-analysis, British journal of sports medicine, 2023.

Consensus statement: An evidence‐based review of exercise, rehabilitation, rest, and return to activity protocols for the treatment of concussion and mild traumatic brain injury. PM&R, 2023

The effects of rest on concussion symptom resolution and recovery time: a meta-analytic review and subgroup analysis of 4329 patients. The American Journal of Sports Medicine, 2023

Podcast: The Autonomic Nervous System & How Exercise is Medicine for Concussion Patients

Buffalo Concussion Treadmill Test Protocol 

 Understanding the Research around Supplementation and TBI symptom Mitigation from Momentous 

Additional Resources: 

Love Your Brain: free resources, training, education, community and support for people affected by brain injury. 

Rev6: exercises and movement program to support fascia and nervous system.

Rebecca’s recommended Meditation apps: Headspace, Calm and Waking Up 

Built to Move Book by Kelly and Juliet Starrett.  Simple ways to get moving and feel better. 10 tests + 10 physical practices = 10 ways to make your body work better.

Breath by James Nestor.  Breathing exercises, the science behind them, and practical usage. 

Oura Ring for personal health tracking