We sit down with our friend Dr. Eliza Sampey, a physical therapist and former pro bikepacking racer, to tell the unglamorous truth about concussion and TBI recovery when you lose sport, stability, and parts of your identity overnight. We connect the physiology of brain injury to the lived reality of sensory overload, emotional swings, broken support systems, and the slow work of building a functional life again.

Link to Liz's work and you can connect with her on social through here too https://elizasampey.com/

• Liz’s path from lifelong adventure athlete to PT and concussion specialist for endurance athletes
• What bikepack racing demands and why self-sufficiency matters after injury
• How a single crash can create amnesia plus long-term symptoms without loss of consciousness
• The neurometabolic cascade and why the brain hits an energy crisis
• Five key systems that get disrupted: autonomic, metabolic, neck, oculomotor, vestibular
• Why people “look fine” while daily tasks like stores, screens, and driving become brutal
• What caregivers can do early: reduce load, take over basics, encourage brain breaks
• How isolation and lack of validation can worsen mental health during recovery
• Why early intervention from a concussion-literate provider predicts better outcomes
• What persistent symptoms can mean and how rehab can still work years later
• How we think about CTE risk, repeated head injuries, and proactive brain health
• Where Liz works, who she helps, and what virtual rehab and mentorship looks like

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Warmly,
Nico Barraza
@FeedTheSoulNB
www.nicobarraza.com