Back to Designing After a Concussion
Jewelry designer Elizabeth Newton found the support she needed at Shepherd’s Complex Concussion Unit
On Aug. 26, 2023, Elizabeth Newton fell, resulting in a shattered wrist, misaligned jaw, split open chin, and multiple bruises on her face. The broken wrist required surgery. As she recovered, she continued to experience dizziness, double vision, memory problems, and extreme fatigue. She chalked it up to side effects from the medications prescribed to her post-surgery.
Things did not improve. She was sensitive to light and noise in a way she never had before. She felt like she was floating and wasn’t sure what was wrong. In her professional life, Elizabeth is a jewelry designer who founded enewton design, a popular jewelry company. But after her injury, she was unable to work.
When she went to see a doctor for ear pain due to her misaligned jaw, he told her she most likely had a concussion.
“I was surprised,” she says. “At the hospital, they did an MRI to rule out a brain bleed, but I didn’t know I had sustained a concussion.”
The doctor referred her to Shepherd Center's Complex Concussion Clinic, where she began therapy to address her symptoms. Right away, she was impressed with Shepherd Center.
“The experience was very specialized to my needs,” Elizabeth says. “They took the time to listen to me and figure out what was going on, and then they tailored an individualized plan to get me where I was before the fall.”
Elizabeth worked with occupational, physical, and speech therapists on memory, balance, and strength issues and slowly began to see improvements.
“I liked how they measured my progress. Some weeks it was hard for me to feel a difference. Being able to see measured progress helped me stay positive throughout my concussion," Elizabeth says. “It was also nice to be in a clinic where they were focused on one thing — getting me better.”
Now, more than a year later, Elizabeth has nearly fully recovered and is back at the helm of her company full time.
“I’m a fifth-generation Atlantan ,” Elizabeth says. “I knew Shepherd Center was here, but I didn’t really know what it was about. We are so blessed to have a place like Shepherd Center in Atlanta.”
By Sara Baxter
With five decades of experience, Shepherd Center provides world-class clinical care, research, and family support for people experiencing the most complex conditions, including spinal cord and brain injuries, multi-trauma, traumatic amputations, stroke, multiple sclerosis, and pain. An elite center ranked by U.S. News as one of the nation’s top hospitals for rehabilitation, Shepherd Center is also recognized as both Spinal Cord Injury and Traumatic Brain Injury Model Systems. Shepherd Center treats thousands of patients annually with unmatched expertise and unwavering compassion to help them begin again.