IM Featured in the News: “Concussion”

The Brain Training Center of Maryland is developing an innovative approach to concussion recovery.

The new film, “Concussion,” released on Christmas Day puts a spotlight on an often football related injury and the dangers of concussions going untreated.

Greg Ortman, a client at the Brain Training Center of Maryland, looks like he’s playing a simple computer game, but he’s actually putting his brain through a workout.

“I just feel a lot more clear and able to respond quicker to questions and pretty much anything,” Ortman said. “I just feel more alert and better.”

The former high school and college football player suffered multiple concussions. Even years later, he continued to suffer from symptoms that just wouldn’t go away.

“I had ADD before,” Ortman said. “But it just got even worse after the concussions. Symptoms, physical symptoms I forgot to mention, headaches, sensitivity to light.”

Greg’s mother Kate was already certified in a therapy called interactive metronome. It’s a computer program that uses sound and sensors to improve focus, timing, memory and coordination. She used it to help another son recover from brain surgery.

“The computer is measuring to the millisecond how accurate you are,” Kate Ortman, founder/CEO of Brain Training Center of Maryland said. “The lower the millisecond average, the more the brain and the body are together. So we can see as you’re going it, that your numbers are getting lower.”

The Brain Training Center of Maryland also works with children and adults with ADHD, dyslexia and attachment disorders. using interactive metronome and other therapies.

“What’s so exciting about what we do is that we’re giving people that you don’t have to settle for the struggles that you have,” Kate Ortman said. “If we change your brain, your struggle will decrease. If you brain is healthier, you are able to do more.”

It could take several months of sessions before concussion clients see results, like in Greg’s case.

“After a while, you start recognizing the changes, you get excited and it’s smooth sailing after that,” Ortman said.

Once struggling, Greg is now back in school working toward his college degree. He also works as a trainer at the center to help others regain what they’ve lost.

Here are two additional stories featuring our outstanding IM Provider Kate Ortman