Welcome to The Concussion Naturopath.
If you have landed here because something still isn't right after a head injury - whether that was last month or ten years ago, you are in the right place.
This page explains who I am, what I do, why concussion care needs to go further than it currently does, and what naturopathic medicine actually offers that nothing else currently provides.
What is The Concussion Naturopath?
The Concussion Naturopath is a clinical naturopathic practice led by Louise Cork, a degree-qualified naturopath with advanced study in neuroscience and a clinical focus on the whole-body impact of head trauma.
The practice exists because concussion is consistently undertreated. Standard protocols do what they are designed to do - rule out serious structural injury and manage the acute neurological presentation. But they were not designed to address what else happens: the systemic inflammatory cascade, the gut disruption, the hormonal changes, the metabolic impairment, the sleep dysfunction. Those processes continue regardless of whether they are acknowledged or treated.
This is the gap. And it is a gap with real consequences for the people living in it.
What does a concussion naturopath do?
Naturopathic concussion care works at the level of the underlying physiology, the systems and processes driving persistent symptoms rather than managing those symptoms in isolation.
That means assessing the full picture: gut health and microbiome ecology, liver function, hormonal and HPA axis status, mitochondrial function, sleep quality, immune regulation and nervous system tone. It means building a treatment plan around what is specifically happening in your body, not a standard protocol applied to everyone.
The clinical tools include targeted herbal medicine prescribed at therapeutic doses, nutritional and nutraceutical medicine, functional testing where indicated, and individualised dietary and lifestyle strategies. Every plan is built around the person in front of me because no two people, and no two concussions, are the same.
Who is naturopathic concussion care for?
Naturopathic concussion care is appropriate at any stage of injury. There is no window that closes.
Before an injury - risk minimisation
If you or someone you care about is regularly exposed to head impact risk for example contact sport athletes, their families, team practitioners - optimising the body before an injury occurs is one of the most meaningful things that can be done. Gut health, inflammatory baseline, microbiome diversity, immune resilience: all of these shape how the body responds to and recovers from head trauma.
In the acute phase - early support
The hours and days immediately following a concussion are physiologically significant. The inflammatory cascade, gut permeability changes, and blood-brain barrier disruption are all underway. Supporting the body in this window with targeted nutrition, anti-inflammatory herbal medicine and gut support can meaningfully influence the recovery trajectory.
If you are in the early days after a concussion, our First 72 Hours Guide is a practical starting point.
For persistent or historical symptoms - resolution at any stage
Many people arrive at naturopathic care months or years after a concussion, having been told their symptoms are unrelated or unexplained. Fatigue, brain fog, mood changes, gut disruption, hormonal imbalance, sleep dysfunction these are not random and unrelated. They reflect a physiological cascade that was never fully resolved.
The body has an innate capacity to heal when given the right conditions. Those conditions can be created at any stage of injury. Change is possible at any point.
Recovery is not just about time. It is about giving the body what it needs to resolve the processes that are still running - at any stage of injury.
How is naturopathic concussion care different from standard treatment?
Standard concussion care involves emergency medicine to rule out serious injury, neurological assessment, and referral to physiotherapy, vestibular therapy or psychology where indicated. These are essential and they form an important part of the wider care picture.
What they do not address is the systemic cascade. Based on articles retrieved from PubMed, research including a systematic review by Manley et al. published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine has documented that multiple concussions are associated with cognitive impairment and mental health difficulties in some individuals which are consequences driven by mechanisms that are not targeted by current standard protocols.
Naturopathic care does not replace any part of that standard picture. It completes it. The gut, the liver, the hormones, the immune system, the mitochondria - these are not in the scope of any other discipline involved in concussion care. They are entirely in ours.
Where is The Concussion Naturopath based?
Consultations are conducted via telehealth, making naturopathic concussion care accessible anywhere in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Europe. PCS is a systemic condition it does not require in-person assessment to be addressed comprehensively from a naturopathic perspective.
How do I get started?
If you are ready to understand what is specifically driving your symptoms and build a plan around your individual physiology. Book a consultation HERE
If you are new to this space and want to build your understanding first, the RESOURCES section has evidence-led articles covering the pathophysiology of concussion, the gut-brain connection, persistent symptoms, long-term risks and what naturopathic medicine offers at each stage.
And if you are in the early days after an injury, the First 72 Hours Guide is free and practical, a starting point for supporting your body from the moment of impact.
Your symptoms are not imagined. They make sense in the context of what is happening physiologically. Understanding that is the beginning of doing something about it.
References
Manley G et al. A systematic review of potential long-term effects of sport-related concussion. Br J Sports Med. 2017;51(12):969-977. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2017-097791
Putukian M et al. Clinical recovery from concussion — return to school and sport: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Br J Sports Med. 2023;57(12):798-809. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2022-106682