Treatment of concussion
Athletic trainers at Georgia, Georgia State and Georgia Tech follow similar practices in the prevention, diagnoses and treatment of concussions.
UGA’s Ron Courson, GSU’s Bob Murphy and Tech’s Jay Shoop say everything starts with education — for the students and for themselves.
Education and prevention
Upon arrival on campus and before athletes are allowed to participate in any activities, they undergo a physical examination and give their case-histories. They also are put through different tests to measure cognitive functions. The tests are done so that the school’s medical staff has a baseline comparison in case they later need to examine an athlete who is experiencing concussion-like symptoms.
All three schools use ImPACT, a 20-minute computerized test that measures cognitive functions. They also administer paper exams designed to further test short-term and long-term memory. UGA includes an advanced balance test, a 30-minute exam that determines balance points so that they can later see how concussions may affect movement.
Each school spends a great deal of time teaching the student-athletes about concussions, including prevention, symptoms and treatment. The NCAA provides a video that is part of the education.
In the case of football, additional videos show how the use of proper fundamentals when tackling and blocking can reduce the chances of sustaining a concussion.
Diagnoses and treatment
Any athlete suspected of sustaining a concussion is immediately pulled from an activity and observed. The athlete is examined by an athletic trainer and a doctor and must answer a yes-no checklist of concussion symptoms. If an athlete answers “yes” to any question, the athlete must answer another question about the severity of that symptom.
The athlete then undergoes new tests to compare current cognitive function with the established baseline.
The athlete will take the questionnaire every day until the symptoms, which should decrease in day-by-day increments, are gone. The athlete will take the ImPACT and other available tests again to make sure that they don’t have symptoms that aren’t observable.
After the athlete is cleared, he or she is allowed to participate in light cardio exercises. If the symptoms don’t return after one or two days, the athlete gradually returns to all sport-specific drills. From diagnosis to full clearance usually takes a week, but each case is different.
Athletic trainers stress that there should be no physical exercise during recovery. Athletic trainers prefer that students avoid loud music, video games and even sending text messages during recovery. Studies have shown that recovery time can speed up if stimulating activities are reduced.
In some cases, professors are notified that the athlete may have trouble in the classroom.
