Mark Heisig, ND

Mark Heisig, ND Concussion archive 🧠 Hopefully rapidly outdated.

Athletic dads & the people who keep them accountable → get healthy on purpose https://drmarkheisig.substack.com/ 🤙

04/07/2026

For folks wanting to follow along with the new journey 🤙❤

04/07/2026

I'm leaving the concussion space as a "specialist."

I'm not leaving "brain health" or the fun neuroscience. I'm still keeping up with the consensus data, just not reading the daily and weekly research updates that I used to, which made me "specialist" material. I'm dropping the title, "releasing" my clinic certification, and the nifty associated EHR dashboard. I'm leaving that hyper-focused version of my job.

Six years and 700+ recoveries, in my physical office and my virtual consulting room. There was a lot of good work and a lot of hard lessons. Somewhere in the middle of it, I realized I was spending most of my days not doing medicine — it was Groundhog Day. Repeating the same definitions (concussion vs. whiplash), summarizing the CTE literature for the 400th time, responding to records requests (and a few subpoenas), constantly citing guidelines to show that my evidence-based care was valid even though I'm an ND and not a neurologist.

I built a social media presence that attracted window shoppers. Day in, day out. Folks would find me because "I was the only one who explained their exact symptoms" in a YouTube or Instagram post, while remaining hyperskeptical and keeping no toes in the water of their recovery. My YouTube, Instagram, blog, and podcast appearances had made me accessible enough that paying for my care was in breach of some relationship I was unaware I had with these individuals.

The folks who committed to working with me were often attached to not getting better in the name of winning their insurance or workers' comp claim. They needed to be concussed to win the case — a whiplash diagnosis? No. It's gotta be early CTE. I was an out-of-network, cash-pay provider who was literally thousands (many thousands) of dollars cheaper than everyone else these folks had seen — Cognitive FX and Amen Clinics, to name two — yet I still got grimaces at my packages.

Despite how this all sounds, I'm not bitter about it. I've learned more about the brain, about patient behavior, and about running a virtual practice than I ever expected.

But at some point, the patterns got too obvious and problematic to ignore. I was a highly trained, skilled provider in the field of concussion/PCS, able to help people meaningfully recover and return to their lives without extraneous biohacks and expenses. Simultaneously, I was Sisyphus pushing a rock up a hill, and each day I did it brought me further from being able to provide for my wife and daughter. When I chat with six of you in a week and only one wants to become a patient, the rest going back to study my YouTube, that doesn't keep food on the table and my daughter safe and healthy.

Truth be told, concussion care was an accident tickled by my ego. I had hundreds of hours of specialized neurology training, along with cardiometabolic training. My game was "healthy on purpose," keeping your heart and brain dialed in for the long game. Then, early in practice, a few post-traumatic headaches led me into the world of concussion. Then, like a shooting star, it took off — conference speaking, being picked up by Complete Concussions, landing on state brain injury association lists, a brief TikTok and Instagram moment that made me a C-list concussion celebrity (my words). And then, over the past two years, it fizzled. Partly because I stepped back from social media. Partly because the litigation game was starting to dishearten me. And a lot because somewhere along the way, victimhood became a personality — and concussion became the oppressor people had no control over, even in the middle of genuine recovery.

When I finally made the decision to leave, it felt like releasing a weight and being able to breathe into who I actually want to be as a doctor. My mission statement early in med school was to "help foster in others a sense of mindfulness, simplicity, and love," and a major part of that is helping people fully and autonomously engage in their lives. That requires physical health.

That's . Nutrition, movement, and mindset. Aiming to help dads and dudes build out the life that helps them to be physically healthy and present husbands, fathers, and ultimately active grandpas (not old man furniture ornaments).

My tagline from 2013 was "Healthy on Purpose." Apparently, I just needed six years and a concussion detour to get back to it.
Healthy... On purpose.

02/20/2026

I’ve yet to work with someone who wasn’t told “rest until it goes away” OR some version of “this is your life now.”

I’m literally having to get CMEs in psychology/counseling/coaching to help folks unravel these hopeless narratives they been told to swallow.

Let’s do better.

01/05/2026

🙃🫠

Leddy, J. J., Haider, M. N., Noble, J. M., Rieger, B., Flanagan, S., McPherson, J. I., ... & Willer, B. (2021). Management of concussion and persistent post-concussive symptoms for neurologists. Current Neurology and Neuroscience Reports, 21(12), 72.

Patricios, J. S., Schneider, K. J., Dvorak, J., Ahmed, O. H., Blauwet, C., Cantu, R. C., ... & Meeuwisse, W. (2023). Consensus statement on concussion in sport: the 6th International Conference on Concussion in Sport–Amsterdam, October 2022. British journal of sports medicine, 57(11), 695-711.

👆 for starters

Stop blaming the barometer (unless you have to)…Patients (and providers!) often conflate Post-Traumatic Headache (PTH) w...
12/10/2025

Stop blaming the barometer (unless you have to)…

Patients (and providers!) often conflate Post-Traumatic Headache (PTH) with Migraine, but the data show they have very different drivers.

🧠 Concussion Folks: A 2019 study by Silverberg et al. found that weather was actually a low-potency trigger. The real culprit? Mental exertion. The danger here is “Cogniphobia”—the fear of mental work. When patients avoid thinking/screens/focus to “save” themselves from pain, they actually make their brains more sensitive. The way out isn’t hiding; it’s graded exposure.

⛈️ Migraine Folks: A 2024 review by Denney et al. confirms that yes, weather (especially lightning and wind) matters. But it rarely acts alone. It lowers the defense threshold so that stress or lack of sleep can sneak a migraine in.

The Takeaway: If you’re recovering from a TBI, don’t fear the rain—focus on safely increasing mental stamina. If you’re managing migraines, build a metabolic buffer so the weather has less impact.

Which strategy do you need right now? Exposure or Buffering?

Drop a 🧠 below if you’re working on exposure, or a ⛈️ if you’re building your storm buffer.

12/09/2025

📢🌶️🧠

Is age just a number? When it comes to concussion risk, it might be the wrong number.We are seeing a polarization in you...
12/08/2025

Is age just a number? When it comes to concussion risk, it might be the wrong number.

We are seeing a polarization in youth sports. ➡️One side calls for banning contact until high school to protect the brain.
➡️The other argues that delaying contact creates “bobblehead” athletes—players who lack the neck strength and technical skill to protect themselves when the hits finally come.

Here is the nuance we often miss: Risk isn’t limited to the field.

Statistically, most concussions occur from falls and motor vehicle accidents, not sports. We could cancel every contact sport tomorrow and still face a concussion crisis.

The difference is that in sport, we have the unique opportunity to prepare the body for impact.

A recent clinical review, “The Contact Conundrum”, highlights a critical flaw in our current system: inconsistency.

Rugby introduces contact at U8 in some places, U12 in others. Ice Hockey waits until U15 in many leagues.

But the biggest risk factor isn’t the rulebook—it’s maturation.

We’ve all seen the “David vs. Goliath” scenario: two 12-year-olds, one who has hit puberty and one who hasn’t. The size and power discrepancy creates a massive, unmanaged risk.

The Path Forward: The review suggests moving away from arbitrary age limits and toward competence-based progression.

Contact is a skill. Just like a squat or a sprint, it requires:
✅ Physiological readiness (growth)
✅ Biomechanical competence (technique) ✅ Psychological readiness (maturity)

We help our athletes recover and adapt not by shielding them from the world, but by preparing them for it—progressively and on purpose.

👇 What’s your take? Should we bio-band youth sports by size/weight rather than age? Let me know in the comments. (And if you comment, do it like you’re talking to someone face-to-face in a coffee shop. Not like an anonymous internet troll.)

(How many times have I shared a study like this with you all? 😂)📢The worry might be hurting you more than the hits—and t...
12/03/2025

(How many times have I shared a study like this with you all? 😂)

📢The worry might be hurting you more than the hits—and that’s actually good news. 🙌

We often treat brain health like a physical scoreboard carved in stone: How many hits did I take? How long did I play? 😫

But a new study on 235 former elite rugby players uncovered a massive, (not so hidden if you’ve followed me) hidden factor: The Worry Loop.

📊Researchers found that nearly 30% of players were “very worried” about their memory.
📈And here is the critical finding: those players were 3.3x more likely to experience depression and anxiety—regardless of how long they actually played or how much pain they were in.

🧐Why does this matter?
👉Because you cannot rewind the clock and dodge a tackle from 2015. That chapter is closed.
👉But the worry? That is happening right now. And unlike your history, worry is modifiable.

If you feel stuck in a cycle of rumination—constantly checking your memory, fearing the worst, and feeling anxious—know this:
Worry is a signal, not a sentence.

🔁The data suggests that distress and worry feed each other in a bidirectional loop. But you can break that loop. Through education to correct fatalistic myths, targeted exercise, and psychological support, you can reclaim your peace of mind.

You are not broken. You are adapting. And adaptation is trainable. 🙏❤️🧠

🤕“Just rest and wait” is not a plan. It’s a surrender. If you’ve had symptoms for more than 30 days, waiting isn’t worki...
11/26/2025

🤕“Just rest and wait” is not a plan. It’s a surrender. If you’ve had symptoms for more than 30 days, waiting isn’t working. The data is clear: the longer you delay active rehab, the longer the recovery curve becomes.
❤️You aren’t broken. You are stuck in a poorly compensating nervous system. And sitting in a dark room won’t fix it—it erodes your capacity. We need to set a new trajectory.

🚨For Black Friday, I’m opening 3 spots for my PCS Resolution Protocol. This isn’t a discount—it’s a Clinical Buffer.
📊Recovery is non-linear. It requires a gentle grip on the reins, but a firm strategy. So I’m ✨upgrading the standard 8-session package to 10 sessions (at no extra cost)✨to ensure we have the runway to handle setbacks and finish strong.

The Protocol:
* Precision: Identify your symptom drivers (Vision, Neck, Metabolic)
* Tools: Polar H10 + Motion Guidance kit shipped to dose rehab with heart-rate precision
* Support: 10 weeks of guidance to restore your autonomy

👉The Reality: I can only accept 3 new cases due to the equipment and depth of review involved.

If you want to feel like yourself again in 2025, we need to start now.
DM me “RESOLUTION” to secure your spot. 🙏❤️🧠

Think poor sleep after a concussion is just “part of recovery”? Mood may be pulling the strings. 🤯📊 In a longitudinal TR...
11/18/2025

Think poor sleep after a concussion is just “part of recovery”? Mood may be pulling the strings. 🤯

📊 In a longitudinal TRACK‑TBI study (Neurotrauma Reports, 1,557 mTBI patients + 226 controls):
* 25% had persistent insomnia in the first year
* 71% stayed below the clinical cutoff
* OTC patients consistently showed lower sleep + mood symptoms

➡️ Key finding: Depressive symptoms at 3 months predicted worsening insomnia at 6 months (β = 0.20, p = 0.008). ➡️ Insomnia did not predict later depression → unilateral effect.

📌 What the numbers mean:
* Beta (0.20): Strength of the link — higher depression → higher insomnia later.
* p‑value (0.008): Statistically significant — unlikely due to chance.
And here’s the kicker: a subset developed new‑onset insomnia lasting 5+ years. Depression is the leading indicator for sleep problems post‑mTBI — manage it early.

➡️ Swipe the carousel for the 3‑step plan to monitor mood + sleep. ➡️ Comment “Sleepy” for an intro call to evidence‑based brain health strategies to recover, adapt, and perform — on purpose.

I get it. When I tell people I guide concussion recovery 100% virtually, the immediate question is: “But how?! Is that e...
11/17/2025

I get it. When I tell people I guide concussion recovery 100% virtually, the immediate question is: “But how?! Is that even legit? 🤨🧐”

The biggest misconception in concussion support is that a virtual consult is “less than.” The truth is, most in‑person visits often leave you frustrated—with a vague label, no clear next steps, or a specialist referral booked weeks to months out (think: you’re seen in March, but your first neuro‑ophthalmology slot isn’t until May or June).

My multi‑domain virtual framework isn’t “less than”—it’s actually the most precise, targeted way (so far) to design your recovery strategy. Together, we skip the guesswork by mapping out your 5 core Symptom Generators.

👉 Swipe to see the exact blueprint of how we structure your recovery, so you can stop chasing symptoms and start adapting, performing, and progressing—on purpose.

👇 Comment ‘VIRTUAL’ to hop on an intro call and explore whether this approach is the right fit for you.

I started this work just before the pandemic — and it reshaped everything. From patient care to teaching to admin, I’ve ...
11/15/2025

I started this work just before the pandemic — and it reshaped everything. From patient care to teaching to admin, I’ve now gone 100% virtual (by popular demand, so to speak). The next 5 years? I hope for even more wisdom to share. 🤙

👉Comment “recover” if you’re ready to explore concussion/PCS recovery with me. Surprising things happen when you look under the right rocks - even from home, even on Zoom.🙏❤️🧠

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15953 N Greenway Hayden Loop
Scottsdale, AZ
85260

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Meet the doc.

Dr. Mark Heisig is a naturopathic doctor (ND) in Scottsdale, AZ. He completed his medical education at Bastyr University in Seattle, Washington. His undergraduate education was at Northern Arizona University where he received his B.S. Biomedical Sciences (Cum Laude). While in Seattle, Dr. Heisig completed postdoctoral training in Applied Clinical Neuroscience with the Carrick Institute for Graduate Studies. This training has made him eligible for fellowship recognition (FACFN) upon examination.

The integration of naturopathic and functional medicine with a dynamic means for evaluating the nervous system gives Dr. Heisig a unique approach to interacting with patients and helping them overcome their health concerns.

To learn more about Dr. Mark’s story, please visit: https://www.drheisig.com/dr-marks-story

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