In this instructional YouTube talk, David Brimacombe, a seven‑time concussion survivor, explains why traditional recovery advice that emphasizes big, rapid changes often backfires for people with post‑concussion syndrome (PCS). He argues that the nervous system after a concussion is hypersensitive and needs safety, predictability, and tiny incremental adjustments—what he calls a Kaizen approach—to rebuild tolerance and rewire brain‑stem threat pathways. Brimacombe outlines the philosophy behind Kaizen, draws parallels to the book Atomic Habits, and provides concrete micro‑habits (e.g., drinking more water, consistent sleep, brief outdoor steps, breathwork, mantras) that can be layered over days and weeks. He emphasizes the importance of creating new safe associations, celebrating small wins, and shifting identity from a passive patient to an active recovery agent. The talk also offers coping tactics for inevitable symptom flares (breathwork, safety cues) and ends with a call‑to‑action for viewers to share one tiny habit they will adopt, fostering community accountability.
Chapters
Most people think that recovery comes from big breakthroughs, large wins. But after a concussion, the brain heals from something much quieter. Hi and welcome to the PCS Resilience Collective. My name is David Brimacombe, and after seven concussions over twenty years, I learned the power that small wins today equals large victories. Tomorrow. Let's begin. Post-concussion recovery often fails not because people don't care, not because people are ill-informed, but because they try too hard. Now understand that the tolerance for new protocols, systems, ideas, movement, all those things that you think are going to heal you and could and will heal you in small doses are done early on in large amounts, in amounts that you could tolerate prior to your concussion. But after concussion, your body doesn't have that same resilience. So it looks like this: you make too many changes, you make too big of changes, your body reacts— danger, what's going on, why are we changing our routines— and you become more symptomatic. You become more tired, become more lethargic, and therefore you become more cynical of your path and your recovery. This is a sick cycle that plays on itself to the point where a lot of people just give up and fail. I was at that same point. I tried everything, but I tried everything to the nth degree. If it said movement was going to help with my blood circulation and reduce my symptom load, I would try to go and go for a jog or walk around the block when I could hardly get up and down the stairs. Now, that had a terrible impact on my symptoms and therefore my psyche. What I had to understand was that a sensitive nervous system, a nervous system that was constantly looking for threats in the environment, did not respond to force. It responds to safety, to predictability, to small sequential changes in my routine. And so that's where I started. I started to make smaller changes and I saw smaller wins. With the smaller wins became momentum, Which increased my belief. This wasn't easy, but it was the start of my recovery. I recently came across a Japanese word, kaizen. It is the idea of small continual improvements create long-lasting changes. Now, this typifies everything I believe about PCS recovery. The things that you do today might seem inconsequential Okay, having a little bit more water, sleeping on a consistent cycle, eating foods that are non-inflammatory— these aren't huge changes, okay? But when you compound them, when you add them, when you layer them, when you do them day after day and you create safety in the system, when you create an understanding in the body that I can actually improve, it starts to scale. It starts to increase your ability and understanding that you can heal your system. You are a change agent in your recovery. The reason why KAIZEN works is because your brain doesn't need proof that these systems are going to work, that everything you're going to do— you're going to again talk about your diet, you're going to do nervous system regulation, you're going to do meditation— your brain doesn't need proof of that. What your brain needs proof of in this moment, okay, is that what you're going to do, whatever it is, it's going to be safe, it's going to be supported, and it's not going to be a dangerous situation that's going to cause all those nervous system alarm bells to go off and your symptoms to flare. Where is Kaizen used? Now, Kaizen is used in all forms and walks of life. Now, you might have heard me talk about the book Atomic Habits on this channel before, so there's a lot of similarities there. Okay, the concept is this, that if we do— if we continually do what we know we need to do and we do it in small increments, you're going to see lasting changes. You're going to see lasting changes not only in your physical being but also your social and emotional. You're going to have more confidence and more competence. With that, you're building a roadmap, you're building a future self. You're walking in the direction where you need to go. You're not running, you're not sprinting, you're walking. At this stage of your recovery, it is all about momentum. Momentum comes from layering these small steps. You don't have the capacity to sprint to the next step, to run. You need to start by crawling, maybe even shuffling your feet, maybe then walking and and lightly jogging. That is your steps. That is the pace that you need to work at. And you need to do it for what works for you. One of the reasons why people fail to implement the concepts of Kaizen, so small changes, is that for many of you, and for myself included, I didn't feel great. I felt like I needed to feel Well, to start, I needed to be symptom-free one day. I needed to not have that brain fog, that cognitive delay, and then I would start. That's not how this works. Okay, um, I've always said that your movement has to precede your mood changes. So if I know that I need to do something, but I'm gonna wait to feel good, to do it, you're not going to do it. Because in order to change the way you feel, the way you perceive yourself, you need to do it. And again, the hardest thing to do when you feel like you cannot get out of bed, you feel like everything you do is a struggle— and I get you, I got you, okay? It's a terrible feeling. But understand that that terrible feeling can be minimized, can be diminished. By taking a small step. And the small step doesn't have to be drastic, okay? Think of who you're doing this for. So again, if I struggle to get out of bed and move without feeling dizzy, nauseous, okay, maybe I'm going to get up, take a few small steps, and then sit down. I'm going to rehearse in my mind why I'm doing this. Why am I putting myself through this? I could simply just lie down, close my eyes, and I wouldn't be symptomatic. But guess what? You can't live the rest of your life like that, unfortunately. You have to push yourself. You have to push the envelope. You have to push your tolerance so that you can improve. Improvement doesn't come by blasting your system, going from 0 to 100. It comes from slowly starting the engine. Think of the tortoise and the hare. You have to act like the tortoise. We don't have the capacity to run the race like the hare. We are the tortoise. We're going to move slowly, but we're going to be consistent. When the hare is so tired it needs to rest, we have the energy, the capacity. We're building our tolerance. We're moving at that pace where we can actually improve from day to day and from week to week. So here's what I want you to do to adopt this principle. I want you to shrink one habit that you've been meaning to start, or maybe you have started, But it just hasn't stuck yet. Okay, and I want you to shrink it to the point where it is so, so small, it's like a minuscule step, that it seems like it's going to be insignificant. So for example, I want to add movement to my recovery routine. I eventually want to be able to walk around the block and not feel my symptoms flare. Okay, that's your end goal. You're not going to start with that. Our first step, maybe this week, Instead of going for the walk around the block or the walk to the mailbox, I'm simply going to put on those shoes that I'm going to walk with. I'm going to get myself ready both physically and mentally like I'm going to go for a walk, but I'm just going to step outside. I'll stand on my front porch, maybe even walk to the corner and back. But all I'm doing is I'm taking a very, very small step. Next week, maybe I get up, Put my shoes on, put my stuff on. I go outside and I walk 3 houses down and back. And again, it seems so small. Why would I— 3 houses? Like, are you kidding me? That's not going to make any changes. But guess what you're doing? The most important thing that you need to understand is that you are increasing the safety in your body. It is not so much the physical aspect of your recovery that is going to change everything. Your mind perceives everything as danger, everything around you. You're going to go outside, you're going to go for a walk. Well, that association that you've made in your brain is that walking equals exercise, which equals increase in blood flow, which equals symptoms flaring. And that association is subconscious. You're not actually thinking about that, but we can change that. We can rewire Your mind. And to do so, we need to slowly make the changes. So we're going to go outside, kind of making that association of going outside and going for a walk, but we're just going to be there. We're going to be present in nature. And guess what? We're slowly changing that association. Walking doesn't have to be dangerous. There can be safety involved. Okay? So the biggest thing I want you to do after you come in is you're going to remind yourself of the safety of this this activity. Do some downregulation. Remind yourself with some mantras: I am safe, I'm supported. Look at me, have a— congratulate yourself, celebrate. I did it, I went outside, I am not symptomatic. But again, anything positive that you're going to associate with what used to be a negative is going to shorten the time it takes to change that association in your mind, to rewire that pattern. Again, if this is something that you've been doing for weeks, for months, for years, it's going to take a little bit longer. But creating this new connection of excitement and of a higher tolerance is going to change everything. One of the most impactful things that this is going to do for you, it's a small shift in your identity of who you are as a person. You are no longer the person that just sits back. And lets your body heal on its own. If it does, if it doesn't, you are now actively involved. You are an active participant in your recovery. You are going out and taking the steps, however long it takes. It doesn't matter. You're changing who you are in your PCS recovery journey, and that is huge. You don't understand how big of a mind shift, identity shift that does, because you've proven to yourself that you can do something, and you can do something that's not going to necessarily flare your symptoms. Now, what if it does flare your symptoms, even standing outside? That's okay. Do your breathwork. Remind yourself that you're safe and supported. Try again tomorrow. It might take time. If you've been stuck in this phase where you've made that connection of when I go outside, I feel symptomatic, when I do any kind of movement, my symptoms flare, it's going to take time. But Remind yourself that this is possible. The concept and the belief that comes that this is possible and that I can do little things to make big, big changes is going to have a huge impact. Okay? What I want you to do is in the comments below, I want you to mention one thing you're going to change, one small thing that you're going to add, to alter in your PCS recovery. We can keep each other accountable. We can Support each other. Just put it down below. I'd love to hear from you what you're trying to do to change your recovery pattern. And just remember, the brain is malleable. You can change it. You can make that association change, but you need to start small so you can keep that safe— safety in your body. Thank you for listening. Have yourself a great day.
