Athletes May Not Recognize Concussion Symptoms, Study Shows

Health care providers should be cautious about allowing athletes to return to play based solely on self-reported symptoms.

In fact, testing an athlete’s memory and thinking skills with a tool such as the Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing system can help detect whether an athlete is ready to head back into the game, according to a new study published in the Journal of Pediatrics.

Researchers from Vanderbilt University found that athletes can report their symptoms inaccurately, overestimate their recovery and be unaware of their decreased neurocognitive performance, a news release states.

“It is common knowledge that athletes may at times minimize or deny symptoms after injury to avoid being removed from competition,” said study co-author Dr. Gary Solomon.

For the study, researchers focused on cheerleaders. Some studies report that as many as 6 percent of total injuries among cheerleaders are concussions, the news release states.

During the study, 138 junior and senior high school cheerleaders with concussions were tested before their injuries and at least once within seven days of their injury using ImPACT™. All of the concussions were diagnosed by a physician, athletic trainer or school health officer who was present when each cheerleader was injured.

“We hypothesized that the use of ImPACT™ would result in an increased capacity to detect and measure post-concussive abnormalities in cheerleaders compared with symptom assessment alone. While 62 percent of the cheerleaders reported having symptoms of a concussion such as headache, nausea or dizziness – many cheerleaders mistakenly thought they were fine. Of those who reported no concussion symptoms, one-third had evidence of concussion based on their ImPACT™ scores.

“The results show that the addition of neurocognitive assessment could be a useful took to evaluate when cheerleaders with concussion have to returned to normalized baseline measures,” the release states. “They also support the idea that self-reported symptoms and decreased neurocognitive test scores after concussion may differ.”

+ Learn about ImPACT™ Neurocognitive Testing at Bon Secours In Motion Physical Therapy and Sports Performance. ImPACT™ is a computer-based program that tests multiple aspects of brain function. Athletes, especially those involved in contact sports who are susceptible to concussions, should have a test before the season begins, to establish a baseline. If they sustain a head injury, they should be retested. This gives athletic trainers, physicians and other health care professionals a comparison to determine if it is safe for the athlete to return to play.