#84. Post-Concussive Headache and Symptom Management in Children

Oct 13, 2021

In this episode, Blake Windsor, MD a pediatrician with a subspecialty in training for pediatric pain medicine, and a board certified headache specialist discusses post concussive headaches and unique challenges it poses. Headache is the most common post traumatic or post concussive symptom. Even when a child is given the appropriate care, in many cases we find that they still experience post-concussive pain long after we expect them to recover. 

He points that often there is much confusion and debate around what people refer to as Post-Concussive Syndrome, when in reality there seem to be somewhat arbitrary lines surrounding the term. Dr. Windsor also believes that pediatric pain medicine should be as common as other specialties, because it makes the work of other specialties much more streamline and accessible to patients. 

 

Listen in on this episode as Dr. Windsor walks us through the uniqueness of post-concussive headaches, various stages, risk factors, identification and treatment!

 

Takeaways In This Episode

 

• How Dr. Windsor’s experience with sickle cell patients in an inner city hospital led to his pursuit of a career in pediatric pain medicine
• What makes post-concussive headaches so unique
• Factors that result in a headache manifesting after traumatic brain injury
• Other risk factors to keep in mind while testing and which groups are more vulnerable to them
• Signs specific to post-concussive syndrome to look out for
• When is the right time for a pain specialist to be involved in post-concussive care?
• Treatments options to be considered after identifying their symptom cluster based on deficits exhibited
• His advice to the audience

Links

R. Blake Windsor, MD

Connect with Dr. Windsor

Other Helpful Podcast Episodes

Episode #80. Stop treating Pain Like a Symptom!

Post-Concussion Symptom Scale

Clinicians’ Pain Evaluation Toolkit

Proactive Pain Solutions

 

About the Guest 

 

Dr. R. Blake Windsor, M.D.

He is the Chief of Primas Health Pediatric Pain Medicine in the Upstate. He is a pediatrician with subspecialty training in pediatric pain medicine and is both a board-certified headache specialist and medical acupuncturist in South Carolina. He attended the University of Georgia followed by Mercer University School of Medicine where he subsequently worked in a combined post-graduate training program between Harvard Medical School and Boston University School of Medicine. 

 

In 2018, he joined Prisma Health University of South Carolina School of Medicine in Greenville to launch the Carolinas' first comprehensive pediatric pain and headache program. It is the first comprehensive program of its kind in the Carolinas, and he leads a multidisciplinary group of pain specialists from medicine, nursing, psychology, and physical therapy. The team uses a multidisciplinary and holistic approach to complex medical diagnoses and symptoms, resulting in a comprehensive treatment plan that meets children and their families where they are and helps them break the cycle of pain.