When it comes to concussion management, there are a lot of nutrients (vitamins, minerals, fatty acids, amino acids) and herbs used in treatment. As naturopaths we have good history with certain things, and some patients report great improvement with certain supplements.

When you dig into things deeper – there isn’t always a gold standard human randomized controlled trial on every intervention we may use. We’ll dig into why this is the case.

RCT – The Gold Standard of Research

The Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) is considered the gold standard when it comes to research, which means it's considered the best type of research you can have. Both the study participants and the researchers don’t know which group is getting a real treatment and which is getting a placebo. The purpose of this kind of study is to test one treatment option on half the group (giving the other half a placebo), just to compare the effect on the treatment compared to placebo. The goal is to NOT allow for other things to interfere with improvement.

It's Hard to Control Concussion Management

Ideally, in an RCT, if a person took fish oil – we would try to NOT allow them to do other things that could help or hinder their recovery. As such - they wouldn’t be able to do things known to help recovery – like rest, rehab, vestibular training, or other supplements.

Ethically it would be impossible to subject a group of people with a known concussion to prohibit them from doing anything else which can help recovery. This is the reason they test these things in animals – which allows for more testing – both objectively and subjectively.

Book In with Us to Help Navigate the Supplement Aisle after Concussion

There are a lot of supplements marketed for concussion management, some work better than others. Historically we use certain things at certain times when it comes to concussion management – so ask a naturopath before taking things over the counter.