Concussion Recognition & Evaluation

A new study says that including the King-Devick test, a measure of fast eye movement, along with neurocognitive and balance testing as part of a battery of rapid concussion screening tools could improve assessment of athletes for suspected concussion on the sports sideline.

An important, and well-established, part of an assessment for concussion on the sports sideline under the most recent concussion guidelines is to test an athlete's orientation to time and place by asking the so-called "Maddocks questions."  Because they can be asked by anyone, they are valuable on sports sidelines where no health care professional trained in performing a full sideline screening for concussion is present.

Management of sport-related concussion involves a step-by-step process beginning before a sports season even starts, say the three newest concussion guidelines, and continuing through on-the-field evaluation, sideline assessment, diagnosis, treatment, and return to play.

Outsmarting or "sandbagging" a baseline neuropsychological test is much harder than an athlete may think, say two recent studies, because they are programmed to automatically "flag" test protocols that seem suspicious.

The Riddell InSite Impact Response System is a new integrated monitoring and alerting tool designed specifically for the proactive protection of football players based on its Head Impact Telemetry System (HITS) and Sideline Response System (SRS) which have analyzed nearly 1.8+ million impacts since 2003.

With a focus on cutting edge technology for the sports market, i1 Biometrics is tackling the head injury epidemic, head on. Our state-of-the-art Vector Mouthguard can instantly track and tally the cumulative forces of collisions as they happen during all levels of competition.

The most recent international consensus statement on sport-related concussions identifies several important differences in the way concussions are diagnosed and treated in children and adolescents, including the need for age-appropriate symptom checklists, additional cognitive rest and a longer recovery period before return to sports.

According to the most recent international consensus of concussion experts, concussion signs (those noticed by coaches, parents and teammates) and symptoms (feelings or problems experienced by the athlete) fall into five "clusters."

Head injuries in football, as in other contact and collision sports, cannot be completely eliminated, but there ARE steps that can be taken to minimize risk. MomsTEAM's high school football concussion documentary, "The Smartest Team," focuses on "The Six Pillars" of concussion risk management: education, protection, identification, treatment, return to play and retirement.