SOUTH OGDEN, Utah — A business is hoping to help young athletes deal with the long-term effects of concussions with free treatments for youth, high school and college athletes.
Every week, the program allows ten different students who are newly concussed or are experiencing long-term impacts from a concussion to receive free treatment if they are referred to the center by their athletic director.
The Wellness Center is offering this program to honor Hannah Warburton who died by suicide in 2014.
“We don’t want any other person, any other parent, any other sibling to experience the pain my family has had to go through,” said Chase Warburton, Hannah’s brother and co-owner of The Wellness Center.
Hannah was an avid skier and mixed martial arts athlete who suffered concussions as a teenager.
Warburton said the pain caused by the long-term effects of the injuries led Hannah to complete suicide.
“She got a concussion. She couldn’t fight anymore, she couldn’t ski anymore, she could barely go to school,” he said.
The Wellness Center offers full body, red light therapy inside a pod.
“First, your energy is going to increase,” Warburton explained. “Inflammation is going to decrease. Your circulation is going to increase and your body’s natural ability to heal is going to increase.”
Studies are being conducted into the effectiveness of this new treatment for brain injuries.
The center is working with Joel Bass, the director of sports medicine at Weber State University to conduct research into post-concussion recovery.
“It's in the category that we really have to take advantage of it if it's available to us,” Bass said. “This is a very difficult thing to study. If you can show positive results, you have a very good treatment, especially in this area that is difficult to study.”
Student-athletes who have completed the treatment say it made a difference in their lives. One teen who said she benefited is 14-year-old Greeley Kelley, who suffered a concussion in a ski accident.
“Lots of – oh, I’m sad. I can’t do a whole lot,” she described. “Not being able to just feel good.”
She went through treatment including several 18-minute sessions inside a body-sized pod equipped with LED lights and felt immediate results.
“I was a lot more energetic. A lot brighter. My headache went away for the day,” Greeley said.
Former football player Brandon Daugard experienced similar results.
Daugard played football since he was 7 years old and while in high school, he experienced several hits to the head which resulted in concussions.
“In my junior year I suffered three concussions in that one year and decided to call it quits,” he explained.
While he stopped playing football, the headaches didn’t stop. That’s when he sought treatment in the pods offering pulsating red light therapy.
The Wellness Center said the treatment can also be used for those with Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, along with people with risk factors for those disorders. They also treat people with PTSD, depression, arthritis and sleep issues.
As more studies are conducted into the benefits of this emerging therapy, Warburton said he has seen enough to be confident that it makes a difference and is one more tool in the fight against traumatic brain injuries.
It’s a tool he wishes was available when Hannah was suffering from the effects of her concussions nearly a decade ago but he hopes it will serve those who are currently suffering.
