Let's Beat Your Concussion, Together!

From toddlers to Olympians, Dr. Antonucci has assisted thousands of people beat their concussion and regain their quality of life. You deserve to feel and function at your best. That's our #1 goal. We encourage you to carefully read this page and contact us, so we can help get "you" back.

The Most Effective Concussion Treatment

Concussions affect the lives of people of all ages, genders, races, occupations, and abilities. Every concussion is different (even when the same person has more than one). That makes creating a generic or standardized treatment for concussions completely implausible. Although it may sound like just a semantic difference, our experience has proven that when we treat the person with the concussion, rather than just treating the concussion, we enable life-changing transformations.

Patient-centered care, as opposed to concussion-centered care, is how we are able to get patients their lives back in as little as 5 days.

Concussion Recovery Statistics 04-2022

5 Concussion Subtypes

The brain is the master control system for thinking, feeling, moving, and even subconscious body functions such as controlling the heart and digestion. Since a concussion is an injury to the brain, after having a concussion, people can experience dozens of different symptoms, making symptom-based treatment very difficult. To help primary care providers appropriately refer or treat individuals with a concussion, researchers have clustered concussion signs and symptoms into 5 Concussion Subtypes, each requiring slightly different approaches.
vestibular concussion

Vestibular

When injured, the vestibular system, which mainly helps maintain balance and spatial orientation, can also affect cardiovascular, digestive, musculoskeletal, and cognitive/emotional functions.
visual oculomotor concussion

Visual/Oculmotor

When alignment, movement, and coordination of the eyes are affected, symptoms such as double vision, difficulty tracking moving objects, and sensitivity to light make daily life a daunting challenge.
cognitive concussion

Cognitive

Cognitive dysfunction involving perception, attention, memory, reaction time, language processing, and thinking make seemingly simple tasks of daily life feel impossibly difficult.
autonomic concussion

Autonomic

The control of the body's automatic functions, such as heart rate, breathing, digestion, and temperature regulation works unconsciously to adapt to changes in our environment.
concussion affect

Affective/Emotional

Changes to your emotional state may include feeling more irritable, sad, anxious or having difficulty regulating emotions. These changes can be related to the injury itself or the stress of recovery.

2 Concussion-Associated 
Symptom Clusters

It may go without saying that the brain controls every bodily function, and when it is injured, many symptoms can present themselves. In addition to the primary subtypes, clinicians and researchers have observed two secondary clusters of symptoms that commonly appear after a concussion. These may exist as a result of the injury that caused the concussion or secondary to the above subtypes. Either way, they need to be treated. 
concussions effect on sleep

Sleep

Normal sleep patterns, including changes in the amount, quality, and timing of sleep, may include difficulty falling asleep, waking up frequently, or feeling tired despite adequate sleep.
somatic concussion

Somatic

Body symptoms such as muscle tightness, clumsiness, headache, fatigue, and sensitivity to light or noise can persist for days or weeks after an initial injury and need to be investigated and treated.

What Type of Concussion Do You Have?

The Recipe for Concussion Recovery

Most people understand that cooking involves using specific ingredients in the right amounts and at the right times, to create a tasty dish. However, when it comes to rehabilitating the brain after an injury, many people (even doctors) sometimes don't know that the same principle applies. Often, patients are given one type of therapy (such as physical therapy for neck pain), with standard protocols (like 60-minute sessions, twice a week), just because it worked for someone else. But treating a concussion is more than just treating symptoms. In our experience, the most successful treatment plans include a variety of therapies, consider the impact of each intervention, establish an order in which they should be administered, and determine the optimal intensity of the program.
Interventions are the ingredients to a concussion recipe

Intervention

The ingredients in the concussion recovery recipe are the treatments. They can include everything from vestibular rehabilitation, vision therapy, medical gasses, lasers, supplements, therapy, chiropractic manipulations, and more.
The amount of intervention is important for concussion

Amount

Each patient will have a certain "dose-response curve" to therapy; meaning that too little doesn't work, and too much is detrimental. This is why it is important to receive treatment from someone that is trained and experienced with concussion rehabilitation.
The order of interventions is an important component for recovery

Sequence

During learning, the brain combines and processes all senses simultaneously — not one at a time. However, when a single therapy is delivered at the correct time of a multi-treatment plan, a once ineffective treatment becomes highly effective. 

What is an Immersive Concussion Program?

In an article that Dr. Antonucci wrote, he discussed how concussion symptoms are a result of brain networks that have reorganized and adapted to an injury (the concussion). This remodeling or adaptation causes your brain to work inefficiently, almost like a bad habit. In our experience, rehabilitation of concussion symptoms that are present for more than 30 days respond best to a treatment program that provides the proper treatments, in the optimal order, for the ideal duration, with short rest intervals. 

Often people refer to these programs as "intensives". We used to, but recently, we stopped using that term because a successful outcome in concussion treatment is less about intensity and more about therapeutic immersion, while applying the 10 principles of neuroplasticity. 
Click To Learn More About Our Immersive Program

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are some questions that our prospective patients have asked us. You may have the same questions!

Does Dr. Antonucci only treat concussions?

Concussion rehabilitation is Dr. Antonucci's specialty, and many regard him as one of the best in the world. However, technically speaking, he doesn't even treat concussions. He treats brain dysfunction, and optimizes the brain performance of people who have concussions. That's a fundamental difference. The underlying functional remodeling of concussion makes it particularly amenable to his approach. There are other neurological conditions that respond well to neurological optimization. If you have a challenge other than concussion, ask us about our experience with that condition, and we'll let you know if we think that we can help.

Do I have to travel to see Dr. Antonucci?

There is only one Dr. Antonucci (his wife says "thank goodness"). So yes, unless you live within 30-40 miles of our clinic's location, you will have to travel to see him. We do not advise commuting to participate in our Immersive Program. The stressors of commuting, not having a place to relax between sessions, and the responsibilities associated with being home often lead to sub-optimal outcomes. We even recommend that local patients take a "stay-cation" to work with Dr. Antonucci. It's all part of the immersion in your therapy.

What is the age range of patients that Dr. Antonucci treats?

Generally speaking, Dr. Antonucci works with individuals between the ages of 8 and 80. However, that is not a rule. There are some patients inside of that range that we are unable to work with for various reasons. There are also patients outside of that range that we can help. We recommend reaching out to us to discuss your individual case. Our #1 goal is your success, and if we don't think that we will be successful with your case, we will let you know and make our best referral.

Where would I stay if I traveled for treatment?

Historically, over 90% of Dr. Antonucci's patients fly in to see him. So, we have gotten good at making sure that we make the process as easy as possible. Once we have accepted your case and you have locked in a treatment day, we will provide you with a couple options to assist with your visit. One option is for you to plan everything yourself. If you choose this option, we have assembled a list of preferred hotels, restaurants, and activities around the area for you. On the other end of the spectrum we also have our Complete Concussion Consierge Program (CCCP).  For the same cost as doing it yourself, the CCCP is for a patient that wants us to do it all for them. We'll be happy to share information about it upon request.

Will I see 100% improvement in 5 days of an Immersive Program?

Keep in mind that every person's concussion is different (even if their symptoms are similar). That means that every person's treatment is unique, and every person has the potential to respond differently. While patients have seen 100% improvement in as little as 5 days and we rarely have patients not respond, the average patient sees approximately a 60% reduction in symptoms by the end of the Immersive Program. You might be wondering about the remaining 40%. Dr. Antonucci prescribes an at-home program to help carry you across the finish line. In the rare event that you don't get there, you get priority scheduling to visit us again, if needed.

What are the "at-home exercise" programs like?

All at-home exercise programs take approximately 10 to 15 minutes and are a less potent version of the therapies that your performed in the Immersive Program. Why less potent? We don't want you to over-correct, which could make you symptomatic again. Our team has experience making thousands of at-home programs that are designed to springboard off of your 5-Day Immersive, maintain and gain function to deliver long-lasting results and quality of life.  

Will insurance cover my treatment?

We are a "direct pay" practice, meaning that the patient or the patient's guardian must pay the practice, directly, for care. 

Insurance companies often encumber doctors with limiting contracts as a condition of accepting payments. They will often require you jump through hoops to get a referral to see a specialist, and will deny payment if you don't have one. Instead of considering your unique situation, they use computer algorithms to dictate what they will and will not pay for your treatment. They often will reject claims for therapies performed multiple times in one day (like our immersive program). 

By not billing insurance, we can provide you with the services you need and not the services your insurance will pay for and avoid the administrative burden imposed by insurance companies. Ultimately, the decision to be a direct pay practice allows us to be more accessible, flexible, generous, and patient-centered provider of world-class care.

You can submit our invoice to your insurance company or health savings account administrator for reimbursement, but we are unable to participate in any part of that process.

Still have unanswered questions?

Send us a message by clicking on the blue circle with the chat bubbles in the bottom right hand corner of the screen! 

Once you send a message, we'll move the conversation to text messages to make things faster and easier.

Testimonials

Read what actual patients with real concussions have to say about Dr. Antonucci and his care.
More Testimonials
"Your focus and bedside manner was incredible. Your brilliance and expertise are second to none. You have changed our son's life forever and we are so so thankful! He is a new kid!  We will be forever grateful for your gifts that have helped set our boy on a path to healing. We are thanking God for you this morning."

Dr. Erica Basso
Canton, GA

"You’ve definitely done more for me than you know. You didn’t just put my brain back together, you also finally gave my life back. 

This concussion threw years of my life completely off course and it’s finally been set right again."

Clodagh O'Shaughnessey
Dublin, Ireland

Our Patients Have Travelled From...

Map of Dr. Antonucci's Patietns
hello@drantonucci.com
+1 (321) 450-4477
8910 Astronaut Blvd, Suite 102
Cape Canaveral, FL, 32920