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| 11/12/2009 8:51:00 AM | Email this article • Print this article |
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| Graphic by Peter Davidson |
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Testing deals with sports concussions
Tests typically aren't students' favorite activity at school. But for athletes at Rice Lake High School one test is helping coaches, trainers and doctors know when athletes are ready to return to action after sustaining a concussion.
ImPACT has been used in the district for about 5 years. It was first implemented with contact sports and this year was expanded to include all sports.
ImPACT is a computer-based test that evaluates and documents different aspects of neurocognitive functioning including memory, brain processing speed and reaction time.
Athletes now take a baseline test once every 2 years in computer labs at Rice Lake High School.
Once a concussion is diagnosed, athletes are held out of games and practices while the test is readministerd 2-3 days after the diagnosis.
If athletes are not experiencing any symptoms and test scores are back to those of the original test, they may be cleared to return to action.
"It's a tool," said Steve Salisbury, athletic director at Rice Lake High School. "It won't definitely take you out and it won't definitely put you back in."
Dr. Thomas Lundquist, a family practice physician at Marshfield Clinic in Rice Lake, has helped implement the program at Rice Lake High School. He is also trained to read and interpret the results of ImPACT tests.
He said ImPACT is an important tool because concussions are serious injuries that are not visible on other tests such as CT scans and MRIs.
"We're trying to make it safer for kids who play sports," Lundquist said.
Concussions disrupt the metabolism of the brain and usually take about 1 week to recover from. Head injuries occur after a blow or rapid acceleration to the head, Lundquist said.
He added that athletes can have long-term symptoms if they are re-injured during recovery time.
Initial symptoms of concussions include feelings of dizziness, fogginess and confusion and difficulty remembering and concentrating.
So far this fall, Salisbury said, about half a dozen athletes have retaken the ImPACT test after suffering a head injury.
Warrior head soccer coach Chris Munden said ImPACT has been a solid instrument for dealing with concussions in the soccer program.
"It seems to be a very good tool to determine if a player is slower or less cognitively able to respond after a possible head injury," he said. "We have had players score significantly less after a head injury, providing a clear indication of a concussion."
Lundquist said coaches at Rice Lake High School have been very accepting of the program.
Salisbury said the high school works closely with doctors, athletic trainers, coaches, athletes and parents on properly managing concussions. He added they are working diligently on incorporating classroom teachers into the plan.
Munden believes the athletic trainers working with Rice Lake High School are really using ImPACT to athletes' advantage.
"Our athletic trainers nowa days are extremely picky about the results of these ImPACT tests, which is a good thing," he said. "The last thing we want to do is to send someone out into a contest with a head injury."
Right now, ImPACT is not used on athletes younger than high school age, but Lundquist said research is ongoing for its use on younger athletes.
NFL, NBA, MLB and NCAA teams also use ImPACT and it is growing in popularity in high schools across the country, said Lundquist.
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