Concussions: A Case Study

Players cannot return to the game or cannot return to practice until they have been cleared from the team doctor as well as a neurologist

Another factor that has been discussed is that recurrent concussion can increase the risk of poor outcome following mild TBI. For example, Guskiewicz et al (2007) examined the relationship between depression and recurrent concussion in retired professional football players, and they found that players who endorse three or more concussion ware three times more likely to be diagnosed with depression as compared with those who have no history of recurrent concussion. They also found that 31.1% of players, who had three or more previous concussions, reported impairment in their thinking and memory when they become older as compared with 11.5% of those how had one or two previous injury. However, this study was criticized by ICoMP team because it had a high risk of bias, and they provide evidence to suggest that recurrent concussion may not increase the risk of PCS especially when it occur again during the same match or season in professional players’ population (Cancelliere et al, 2014). In addition, Miller, Ivins, & Schwab (2013) found that previous experience of mTBI can increase the number of symptoms that soldiers reported within 3 months after the injury, yet the symptoms appear to be recover after this period.

The authors of the article called “Comparison of the Balance Accelerometer Measure and Balance Error Scoring System in Adolescent concussions in Sports” are known as Furman, G. R., Lin, C. C., Bellanca, J. L., Marchetti, G. F., Collins, M. W., & Whitney, S. L. According to this article there is an average of 1.4 million cases of brain injuries reported in the United States a year. Sport related concussion play a huge part in this concussion. According the international conference on concussions the most common aspects of a concussion to be tested are dizziness, headache, poor sleep and emotional problems. The most popular symptom to test for a concussion is for dizziness. This is because it helps determine if there is any balance problems. If there is any balance problems it can indicate that might be affecting the central nervous system or the inner ear mechanism.

The study is a longitudinal study which they will end in 5 years. The athletes will be tested the time after concussion. To begin with the study, the group of study will take each test to get a baseline. The trial will begin with a Symptom Assessment Scale (SAS) before going into the neurocognitive assessment for a concussion. During the self-reported symptomatic (SRS) timeline after injury, the athlete's will self-survey their symptoms each week. Then, the athlete will complete the neurocognitive assessment testing of MACE, SCAT-2, SCAT-3, and ImPACT. For starter, the test will be given to the athlete after 24 hours of symptoms free. Each athlete had to meet the following criteria of completed a baseline assessment on the particular test and SAS before the injury, diagnosed with a concussion and given a follow-up assessment conducted within 72 hours of the injury and denied any symptoms at the SRA assessment point. After 24 hours of the free sign. The testing will have a motor skill of mechanical movement and gross movement. The first test is a baseline to see if any changes occur when the athlete is retested in two-year

This research was very thorough as well as straight-forward when it came to assessing the neurophysiological deficits athletes with concussions suffer from. Postural stability is an area where more research should be done in order to prevent concussed athletes from sustaining long-term postural stability deficits. When I first suffered from my concussion, my balance was terrible. I had continued to play after I got hit in the back of the head and that resulted in me constantly falling on the field. It was not until we were into the fifth game of the tournament where my coach decided to have me fully evaluated with an athletic trainer since he was worried that my constant falling was more than just a playing colliding with me or unintentionally

The participants that provided responses to the questionnaire were put into a graph, showing the severity of concussions based on the 5 point scale given; extremely sever, sever slightly sever, somewhat sever, not severe.(fig 4) The responses showed patterns of the participants as a whole. Additionally, given the small sample size (n= 7), athletes who were identified as having a concussion, sidelined tested, and diagnosed from a physician were used to generate an outliner data showing the average of a player’s time frame for returning to play. The sample used a bar graph to understand trends necessary to view the commonalities of the time frame of an athletes return to play.

Concussion diagnosis is assessed through a variety of subjective clinical assessment tools (ex: SCAT3, SAC, BESS, Symptom checklists).17 These clinical assessment tools are often subjective in nature and largely rely on the patients’ test performance. Researchers are currently seeking out appropriate advanced concussion assessment approaches that are more objective. The following essay will outline Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS), Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) and Electroencephalography (EEG) as advanced imaging tools that researchers have used to outline the effects of concussion on the brain.

Every year thousands of athletes are effected by the sports-related concussions. There are three types of concussions, they are classified as grades which is a special term medical professionals use to classify the severity of a traumatic brain injury. Grade 1 concussions are minute in terms of the severity of damage to the athlete’s brain. This is when there are in a brief daze, slight headache, and their head sometimes rings. (Cunha 581-585). The grade 2 concussions are the moderate concussions were an athlete completely fades to black, there’s no seeing anything, and they don’t know their location, name and various other important pieces of information (Cunha 581-585). Last, we have the grade 3 concussion which is the most severe, and

In this article a clinical evaluation was used to study the mild traumatic brain injuries that college football players receive. Images of the brain was taken before the injury so they can tell what I normal brain of the person looks like from a brain that has a concussion. This will give doctors a better understanding of what is really going on. This article gives me another perspective and way on how to look at a concussion. This way of observation is different from the one ones that I collected in my other sources. I found this source also in google scholar. It took the same amount of time as I found my other sources to find this source. One big take away form finding this source compared to my other ones is that having different perspectives on one subject will help me gain a better understanding on concussion in

Spotting any of the symptoms above, is one of the quickest and effective ways for a concussion to be diagnosed by a person trained to spot these symptoms. Although many of these symptoms, don’t appear or will not be present in an athlete that has sustained a concussion. New ways for diagnosing concussions, have been developed to better identify the injury, making it easier to diagnose and treat an athlete who has sustained a hit to the head or neck area. Many concussions, never have an athlete completely losing consciousness, many athletes experience a momentary state of confusion or disorientation after being hit in the head.("Bell Ringers" are concussions , 2016) This type of hit to the head is known as a “bell ringer”; these types of hits can prove to be even more dangerous and hazardous to an athlete, because they don’t lose consciousness many trainers, and coaches think that they are still able to play. This, however is not true, if an athlete were to sustain another concussion, then their chances of getting a more severe injury is dramatically increased.

Symptoms can be unnoticed due to the hours it takes for symptoms to begin to occur. Those involved in sports tend to be aware of these symptoms but fail to come forward due to fear of the inability to play the sport. This is most evident in football in high school. When a player is diagnosed with a concussion, they would be removed from the remainder of practice or game(s) and continues to be monitored. Failure to come forward with concussion symptoms can lead to more damage such as hemorrhages. A player that suffered the concussion may seem fine at first, but as the blood builds up, pressure will build up in the skull causing the brain tissue to be compressed (MD, Collo Sean and PhD Low J. Renee). This compression inside the skull will lead to additional brain injury such as unconsciousness and maybe even death. Some warnings signs of this in adults are larger pupils, seizures, unusual behavior etc. Athletes may be followed through his or her recovery with the post-concussion symptom scale. The scale is a seven point Likert scale graded from 0 (having no symptoms) to 6 (most severe symptoms). Athletes that have preinjury depression, can’t sleep at night or they have a attention disorder they won’t be expected to have a score of 0 on the symptom scale before considering returning to play the

It goes on to say “Computerized and clinical test have detected postural stability deficits at least 3 days after the concussion, but the course of longer term recovery in balance functioning has not been extensively”(JAMA, 2003, p. 2557)

My main question was what are the long term effects of concussions? As I researched I noticed

The CDC, United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, have done multiple studies which have shown that anywhere ranging between 1.6 million to 3.6 million concussions happen each year. It is stated that “5-10% of athletes will experience a concussion in any given sport season” (Sport Concussion Institute n.d.). Concussions are caused by a hard hit or blow to the head, face, or neck which causes one’s brain to move and forcefully knock against the inside walls of one’s skull. As a result, one could feel a variety number of symptoms. Symptoms of a concussion can include the following: “seeing stars” or blurred vision, nausea or vomiting, confusion, blacking out, irritability, slow or delayed responsiveness, slurred speech,

The SCAT5 Assessment Tool, also known as Sport Concussion Assessment Tool, is a variety of tests for athletes, given by an AT or physician, to determine whether an athlete has a concussion. The SCAT5 Tool is made up of the “On- Field Assessment” and the “Off- Field Assessment”. Some tests that make up the “On- Field Assessment” are determining any “Red Flags” or obvious signs of a concussion such as double vision, nausea, headache, “fogginess”, and memory loss. This section is also made up of testing the athlete’s memory, using the “Glasgow Coma Scale”, and a Cervical Spine Assessment. The tests and sections that make up the “Off- Field Assessment” are the athletes general information and background information, evaluating the athlete’s symptoms and the severity of the symptoms, Cognitive Screenings, and Neurological Screenings. When done correctly, the SCAT5 Assessment Tool is a very valuable tool to determine whether an