Method of determining recovery from concussion

1 . A method for detecting status of recovery from brain concussion in a human patient, by detection and measuring of natural minute motions of the patient's head due to blood flow in the brain and resultant movement of tissue in the brain, comprising:

providing a head-attachable sensor device including a first accelerometer sensor, being a low-level accelerometer sensitive to said natural minute motions of the head,

providing a second accelerometer sensor securable to the patient, the second accelerometer being a high-level accelerometer sensitive to larger accelerations in a range of 0.5 g to 100 g from gross movements related to jarring, impacts or sudden movements of the patient, the first and second accelerometer sensors providing two separate streams of acceleration signal data,

both the sensors being connected to a computer which receives and records the two separate streams of accelerometer signal data from the first and second sensors,

with the patient having a confirmed concussion, after a selected number of days following onset of concussion, attaching the head-attachable sensor device on the patient's head such that the first accelerometer sensor contacts the head so as to produce a first data stream to record frequency of the natural minute motions of the skull on at least one axis at the location of the first sensor, including a frequency range up to 25 Hz,

attaching the second accelerometer sensor to the patient such that the second accelerometer sensor detects and measures and produces a second data stream to record the larger accelerations or gross movements of the patient from jarring, impacts or sudden movements, in a range of 0.5 g to 100 g,

after the patient engages in physical activity wearing at least the second accelerometer sensor, receiving and recording with the computer, the separate streams of signal data from the first and second accelerometer sensors, representing said natural minute motions in the head as well as the gross motions from sudden movements, jarring or impacts,

with the computer, comparing said signal data with data corresponding to non-concussion, to determine occurrence of and magnitude of any increase in frequency content of skull motion with the first accelerometer sensor, in frequency ranges above about the fourth harmonic of the patient's heartbeat, indicative of non-recovery from concussion, while verifying the patient's physical activity prior to or concurrent with the time of the data with the second accelerometer sensor as a cause of any detected increase in frequency content, and

restricting the patient from said physical activity if the comparison by the computer is indicative of non-recovery from concussion.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further including, in the event non-recovery from concussion is indicated, continuing to monitor signal data from the first and second sensors and, when the patient again returns to physical activity, determining whether concussion is still indicated, and repeating this procedure until physical activity ceases to be indicative of non-recovery of concussion.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the second accelerometer sensor is contained in the head-attachable sensor device.

4 . An apparatus for detecting status of recovery from brain concussion in a human patient, by detection and measuring of natural HeadPulse motions of the patient's head due to blood flow in the brain and resultant movement of tissue in the brain, comprising:

a head-attachable device including a first accelerometer sensor, being a low-level accelerometer sensitive to said natural HeadPulse motions of the head,

a second accelerometer sensor device attachable to the patient and being a high-level accelerometer sensitive only to larger gross movements relating to jarring or impacts during physical activity,

the head-attachable device with the first accelerometer sensor, and the second accelerometer sensor device, including electronics connected to the sensors for receiving respective first and second acceleration signals and generating respective first and second separate streams of digital acceleration signal data, and

an analyzer connected to the electronics, for determining any elevation in frequency content of the HeadPulse motions with the first accelerometer sensor, in frequency ranges above about the fourth harmonic of the patient's heartbeat, indicative of non-recovery from concussion, and for correlating any such increase in frequency content with any larger, gross movements due to jarring or impacts to the patient as confirmed by the second stream of accelerometer data from the second accelerometer sensor device,

whereby if non-recovery is indicated in the patient at a time weeks after confirmation of concussion, the patient's physical activity prior to the time of the signal data from the first acceleration sensor can be verified with the second accelerometer sensor device as a cause of the detected increase in frequency content, and whereby if recovery is indicated in the patient at said time and the patient then engages in physical activity after which first acceleration data again shows increase in frequency content of HeadPulse above about the fourth harmonic of heartbeat, recovery from concussion is contra-indicated and the patient can be advised to refrain from such physical activity.

5 . The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the second accelerometer sensor device is included in the head-attachable device so as to detect the jarring movements of the head.

6 . The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the analyzer is located remotely from the head-attachable device, connected thereto wirelessly.

7 . The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the analyzer is incorporated in the head-attachable device.

8 . The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the head-attachable device comprises a wearable headset.

9 . The apparatus of claim 5 , in combination with a smart phone, the apparatus and the smart phone having wireless communication capability so that the smart phone displays and reports any said increase in frequency content.

10 . The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the analyzer is located remotely from the head-attachable device, connected thereto wirelessly.

11 . The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the head-attachable device comprises a wearable headset.