Despite the prevalence of concussion in soldiers deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, neuropsychological tests used to assist in concussion management have not been validated on the battlefield. This study evaluated the validity of the Automated Neuropsychological Assessment Metrics (ANAM) in the combat environment. Cases meeting criteria for concussion, healthy controls, and injured controls were...

Sports related concussion has quickly become the most widely publicized neurological disorder with estimates ranging from 1.6 to 3.8 million affected individuals annually. The cervical spine plays a major role in concussion biomechanics. The cervical spine has also been implicated as playing a major role in triggering and maintaining migraine headache 1, 2 Patients with migraine especially chro...

! Most major U.S. professional sports and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) have adopted concussion policies. Current National Football League andNCAA guidelines do not permit an athlete with a concussion to return to play on the same day as the injury. No adolescent or high-school athletes with a concussion should be allowed to return to play on the same day regardless of sev...

There has been a substantial increase in research on concussion among athletes in the past decade as reflected in a striking increase in the number of publications on the topic [4]. Two consensus conferences have added substantially to the definitions of concussion and the return to activity decisions that plague clinicians. The first of these conferences was held in Vienna and provided incenti...

OBJECTIVE To assess heart rate variability (HRV) in athletes with concussion across three phases of recovery. DESIGN A prospective matched control group design included the collection of HRV and symptoms measured by the Rivermead Post-Concussion Questionnaire. These measures were taken at 3 phases of recovery [(1) symptomatic; (2). asymptomatic; and (3) one-week after return-to-play (RTP)]. T...

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to examine, using a dose-response model, sex differences in computerised neurocognitive performance among athletes with a history of multiple concussions. DESIGN Retrospective with randomly selected concussion cases from four levels/numbers of previous concussion. SETTING Multicentre analysis of NCAA student-athletes. PARTICIPANTS Subjects included ...

Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) is a complex, neurophysiological condition that can have detrimental outcomes. Yet, to date, no objective method of diagnosis exists. Physical damage to the blood-brain-barrier and normal waste clearance via the lymphatic system may enable the detection of biomarkers of mTBI in peripheral circulation. Here we evaluate the accuracy of whole transcriptome analys...

HYPOTHESIS/OBJECTIVE The purpose of the present study was to determine the utility of oculomotor-based evaluation protocols in screening for lifetime concussion incidence in elite hockey players. METHODS Forty-two Division I collegiate male and female hockey players were evaluated using the guidelines of an overall oculomotor-based diagnostic clinical test protocol for the mTBI population. Th...

Mild sports-related concussions, in which there is no loss of consciousness, account for >75% of all sports-related brain injury. Universal agreement on concussion definition and severity grading does not exist. Grading systems represent expertise of clinicians and researchers yet scientific evidence is lacking. Most used loss of consciousness and post-traumatic amnesia as markers for grading c...

Of all sports, football accounts for the highest incidence of concussion in the US due to the large number of athletes participating and the nature of the sport. While there is general agreement that concussion incidence can be reduced through rule changes and teaching proper tackling technique, there remains debate as to whether helmet design may also reduce the incidence of concussion. A retr...