The Accident. Suzanne was cycling home from work in Sydney in 2013, when she was hit by a car. The results were catastrophic. She sustained multiple fractures to her jaw and post-surgery arch bars were applied to splint her teeth together. What followed was two weeks of not being able to talk at all, and seven weeks of smoothies and blended soups etc.

However the following weeks and months – and we’re talking more than 22 months – brought endless fatigue, constant headache, heightened anxiety, difficulty dealing with crowds/ noise, cognitive issues and inability to work in private practice. Ultimately, this resulted in Suzanne leaving Sydney and moving to work in Katherine, the Northern Territory. What she didn’t know at the time, was that these symptoms could be ascribed to a post-concussion syndrome, which went undiagnosed.

Post-Concussion Syndrome.Post-concussion syndrome is a complex thing with symptoms that overlap with a HUGE range of conditions, which include but are not limited to Long Covid, FND, Ehlers Danos, tick borne illnesses and more. What Suzanne needed at the time, was a multi-disciplinary, multi-modal approach to care and recovery. Which was not readily available. Instead, Suzanne had to case manage herself through her post-accident care, seeking out the right people and practitioners – which included a psychologist, good physiotherapists etc – while this was achievable as a health professional herself, it was not desirable and was certainly exhausting.

We don’t believe you should have to do this journey alone. That’s why we have a multi-disciplinary team and our Cairns Complete Concussions trained clinicians include five physiotherapists, an osteopath and occupational therapist Jesse.