Concussion Recognition & Evaluation

One of the biggest challenges in the battle against sports concussion is knowing when to conduct an initial assessment.  Depending on athletes to admit to experiencing concussion symptoms doesn't work due to chronic under-reporting.¹ Likewise, studies show that coaches and athletic trainers can't be counted on to reliably identify athletes exhibiting signs of possible concussion for screening on the sports sidelines, especially since only 5 to 10% of concussions involve a loss of consciousness and the onset of concussions symptoms is often delayed, especially in younger athletes. 

After sustaining a series of subconcussive blows to her head during the previous week's training, Heidi Taggart asked her ice hockey coach to be excused from goaltending during a game in February 2010 when she began experiencing "flu-like" symptoms.  He told her to "suck it up" and take the ice. During pre-game warm-ups, a teammate's stick hit Heidi in the head during the follow-through from a wrist shot.  She immediately began experiencing concussion symptoms (headache, disorientation, drowsiness), but the injury was not initially thought to be too serious.   It was anything but.