In this video, concussion survivor and coach David Brimacombe explains why post‑concussion syndrome (PCS) recovery often feels like a roller‑coaster and why that pattern is normal rather than a sign of regression. He emphasizes that recovery is non‑linear and that each setback provides valuable data for the brain and nervous system, which can be used to recalibrate through graded exposure, gentle mantras, and mindset work. Brimacombe advises small, incremental exposure to triggering environments, systematic symptom journaling (weekly trend tracking rather than daily logs), and rating symptom severity to monitor progress. He describes the brain’s reptilian “danger‑alert” system as simplistic and dysregulated after concussion, requiring conscious re‑training to recognize safety. He highlights the role of the reticular activating system (RAS) and the power of reframing perception—using “rose‑colored glasses” and positive mindset—to reduce symptom perception. The video concludes with a brief plug for his PCS Resilience Collective, which focuses on mindset training and community support for PCS recovery.
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If your PCS recovery looks like progress, crash, and then self-doubt, this doesn't mean you're regressing. This is perfectly normal. Hi and welcome to the PCS Resilience Collective. My name is David Brimacombe, and after 7 concussions over 20 years, I learned a lot about how your recovery is much like a roller coaster with the ups and downs, but this doesn't mean that you're getting worse. Let's begin. Now, the biggest thing to understand is that recovery is not linear. Now, every time you have a setback, it's data for your brain. It's data for your nervous system. It's recalibrating. So again, I've talked a lot about exposure therapy, so going out into the places that are causing your symptoms to stir. Now, if I'm going into those environments and my symptoms start to escalate. Okay, that is data from my brain. It's telling me this is not safe. Now, 2 things can happen from this point. You can let it be. You can let that data convince your nervous system that whatever this environment is— this mall, this family gathering, work, school— is terrible. It's, it's unsafe. Sound the alarms. Stress me out. Or you can remind yourself Now, you can remind yourself by using gentle mantras. I am safe. I am supported. I am whole. I am okay. Okay, the easiest thing to do though is to do so through small increments, small steps. So again, going into that workplace, that school, for a few minutes, maybe 20, 30 if you can tolerate, and then coming back out. But again, that's convincing yourself that it is a safe environment and that as you progress Through your PCS recovery. Your bad days might feel bad, but relative to your bad days a month ago, your bad days maybe even a year ago if you've had it this long, maybe they're better. Okay, so it's important to keep a journal. How do you feel this week? Now, don't, don't keep a daily journal because there's just too much data. Talk about how those, those symptoms— are they coming back in the environments that were causing you problems? Those symptoms, are they still causing issues? Now, if they are, that's fine, but that's data. This whole recovery, it's about data for you and data for your brain. Now, how you interpret the data is very important. Now, if you take that data and tell your body, yes, I became symptomatic when I went to the mall, therefore I need that nervous system to escalate, I need that sympathetic drive to increase, Guess what? Every time you go back to the mall, that will happen. Okay? Your nervous system is very simplistic. It is the reptilian portion of your brain. It sees dangers, it warns your body. That's all it's going to do. It's not trying to improve your well-being. It's not going to say, well, I don't think that's really a danger. I'm not going to warn him. I'm not going to increase my stress. I'm not going to extend the blood to the extremities, make him feel like he's— his heart's going to explode. I don't think it's a danger. If it sees something that it thinks is dangerous, it will let you know. That is it. That is all. Very simplistic. Now, again, after a concussion, it becomes dysregulated. It doesn't actually know what's right, what's wrong, what's actually a danger. You have to recalibrate it. You have to remind it of the situations that are going to cause harm and going to cause healing. If you're tracking these trends every week going through how have my symptoms improved, how are those situations— if I think of the most common places where my symptoms are going to escalate, when I go there, are they still escalating? If I think of a 1 to 10 rating of my symptoms, 1 being the, the least, 10 being the highest, has it gone down, has it gone up? All this stuff is data. It's data for you because then you know for a fact that you are improving. And again, once you know you're improving, those steps create belief. And that belief creates momentum to do more things to improve other areas of your life. Okay, recovery is not about motivation. It's not about being the most motivated person in the room. That's not possible. What it is is about convincing yourself and your nervous system that it is safe. Once you do so, okay, you can layer up later on. I want to give a quick plug to my PCS Resilience Collective. And again, if you want to join the waitlist Please find the link below. But one of the major things that we work on with the PCS Resilience Collective is the concept of mindset. Now, mindset is something that's often thought about very woo-woo in popular culture, but when you're recovering from a concussion and when your brain thinks everything is a threat, it is not woo-woo. It is one of the most important things you'll do. Altering how you view the world determines how your body reacts to situations. It is highly, highly fixable. You can change your RAS, your reticular activating system, by determining what you want to see, how you want to view the world. It's like viewing the world through rose-colored glasses. Well, I don't care if I look stupid wearing rose-colored glasses the rest of my life because it means I'm grateful. It means I have a joy in my life, and with that, I start to see the good. When you see the good, those negatives start to wane. Your body doesn't seem to recognize them as much. Your symptoms start to lessen. It does take time, but there are ways out of it. Okay? And I want to remind you of that. If you want to learn more about my personal recovery, I'll post a link of the video up above. I appreciate you. Just remember, healing isn't linear. Just because you don't feel better today than you did yesterday, it doesn't mean you're regressing. Have yourself a great day.
