Concussion Symptom Flare-Up Reevaluation in San Diego

If concussion symptoms have flared back up, the practical question is what a reevaluation actually looks like. This page describes how a flare-up visit is structured at our San Diego office. For the underlying explanation of why symptoms fluctuate in the first place, read can concussion symptoms come and go.

What a Flare-Up Reevaluation Covers

A flare-up visit is not a repeat of the original injury exam. The goal is to find which systems lost tolerance and why the symptoms returned now rather than earlier.

• Oculomotor and visual testing. Eye tracking, convergence, saccades, and tolerance for visual motion.
• Vestibular and balance testing. Positional testing, gaze stability, and postural control under different sensory conditions.
• Cervical assessment. Neck mechanics and muscle irritation that can reproduce headache and dizziness.
• Exertion tolerance. A graded assessment of how symptoms behave as physical load increases.
• Autonomic screening. Heart rate and blood pressure response to position change when lightheadedness is part of the picture.

How to Prepare

Bring a short symptom log covering the two weeks before the flare, including sleep, work or screen hours, exercise, travel, and any illness. Note which activities reliably reproduce symptoms and how long recovery takes afterward. That pattern is often more diagnostically useful than the symptom list alone.

What Happens After Testing

Findings drive the plan. Depending on the pattern, care may include neuro-visual rehabilitation, vestibular therapy, cervical work, graded exertion progression, or autonomic strategies. The plan is reassessed as tolerance improves rather than run as a fixed number of visits.

When to Seek Urgent Care Instead

Worsening headache, repeated vomiting, new weakness or numbness, slurred speech, seizure, or a decline in alertness are emergency findings. Those require immediate medical evaluation, not an outpatient reevaluation.

Related Reading

For the mechanism behind fluctuating symptoms, see why concussion symptoms come and go. For symptoms that never resolved at all, see our concussion care page.