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High school athtletes undergoing computerized neuropsychological testing following a concussion, less likely to return to play within one week

By Michael Kaplen

High school athletes who undergo computerized neuropsychological testing after sustaining a concussion are less likely to return to play within one week than those not tested, researchers found in a study reported in the December issue of American Journal of Sports Medicine, "High school concussions in the 2008-2009 academic year: mechanism, symptoms, and management" .

There are several possible explanations for the findings, they noted.

"It is possible that, despite reporting symptom resolution, these athletes had deficits in their neurocognitive function, adding further evidence to the benefit of neuropsychological testing in the management of sport-related concussion," they wrote, noting that the test scores were not available.

It is also possible, they continued, that clinicians who order testing are more conservative in their management of concussions or that athletes who were considered to have more serious injuries were more likely to undergo testing.

Most of the concussed athletes (93.4%) had a headache after injury, but loss of consciousness was uncommon, occurring in just 4.6% of cases.

Other symptoms reported by more than half of the cases were dizziness/unsteadiness (74.6%) and difficulty concentrating (56.6%).

Symptoms resolved for 83.4% of the athletes within one week, with symptoms lingering longer than a month in just 1.5%.

Full post as published by Brain Injury News and Information on January 03, 2011 (boomark / email).