Hawks forward John Collins entered the NBA’s concussion protocol, the team announced Saturday. Collins was forced to leave Wednesday’s game against the Knicks after taking an elbow to the face in the second half. Collins was reexamined Thursday at the Emory Sports Medicine Complex.
Per the NBA’s concussion policy, Collins must go through the return-to-participation process, which can begin no earlier than 24 hours from the time of injury. The return-to-participation process includes a series of steps designed to ensure an athlete exhibits symptom-free behavior before resuming full basketball activities. There is no time frame to complete the process, as each injury and player is different and recovery time can vary in each case.
Collins will be monitored daily, and his status will be updated as appropriate.
According to the NBA, the return-to-participation process involves several steps of increasing exertion – from a stationary bike, to jogging, to agility work, to non-contact team drills. Each exertion stage must be directly monitored by a member of the team’s medical staff. With each step, a focused neurological examination is performed, and a player must be symptom-free to move to the next step. If a player is not symptom-free after a step, he stops until he is symptom-free and begins again at the previous step of the process.
A player who had a concussion may not return to participation until he is without concussion-related symptoms at rest, has been evaluated by a physician with training and experience in the management of concussion and has successfully completed the NBA return-to-participation exertion process, and a team physician has discussed the return-to-participation process and decision with the director of the NBA Concussion Program. The final return-to-participation decision is to be made by the player’s team physician.
Collins exited the game against the Knicks during the third quarter after taking an elbow to the face while competing for a rebound. He immediately grabbed his head as he fell out of bounds. Though he was available for the team’s next offensive possession, he went back to the locker room shortly after the Hawks called a timeout. The team designated him as questionable to return shortly after, then ruled him out for the rest of the game.
“He took a pretty good hit from (Julius) Randle on that drive to the basket, or Randle’s drive to the basket,” coach Nate McMillan said after the game.
The Hawks are off for the All-Star break. They don’t return until Friday with a home game against the Cavaliers.
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