Posted on June 27, 2002 at 10:15 a.m.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala., -- Each year, about ten percent of athletes who play
collision sports such as football, hockey or soccer suffer a
concussion after a jarring injury to the brain. Most are mild, but the
risk of serious, permanent damage increases if the brain suffers a
second injury while still recovering from the first. The challenge for
trainers, medical staff and coaches has always been how to determine
when a player can safely return to the playing field.
UAB’s (University of Alabama at Birmingham) new Sports-Related
Concussion Clinic uses a computerized assessment program called ImPACT
to help make that determination. ImPACT (Immediate Post-Concussion
Assessment and Cognitive Testing) is a computer test that measures
individual player’s cognitive processing speed, reaction time, memory
and visual motor skills.
“Prior to the season, players take the ImPACT assessment, giving
trainers a known baseline measurement of that player’s cognitive
function,” says Paul Blanton, Ph.D., director of UAB’s Clinical
Neuropsychology Service in the division of neurosurgery and founder of
the clinic. “If the player later has a concussion, his or her recovery
can be tracked by repeating the ImPACT test and comparing the results
to the baseline. It provides medical staff with another tool to
determine when a player can safely return to action.”
The ImPACT test takes 30-40 minutes for a player to complete. Blanton
is using ImPACT to gather baseline measurements of UAB football and
soccer players this summer. Athletes in other UAB sports will also be
assessed prior to the beginning of their seasons.
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(add one, concussions)
“In most cases, athletes can fully recover from concussions but it
takes time,” says Blanton. “Returning to their sports before they are
completely healed significantly increases the risk of further,
potentially serious, injury.”
The National Football League and the National Hockey League have
implanted ImPACT within their own programs. Blanton has evaluated two
athletes from NFL Europe with the ImPACT program. The Sport-Related
Concussion Clinic is also available to other athletes who have or
think they may have suffered a concussion.
The Sports-Related Concussion Clinic is a collaborative program
staffed by UAB medical specialists from the Department of Psychology,
the Division of Neurosurgery and UAB Sports Medicine. It provides
guidance to coaches, trainers and athletes in the diagnosis and
management of sports-related concussions and can help determine when
it is safe for a player who has suffered a head injury to return to
practice or competition.
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