Neuropsychological Evaluation In The Diagnosis And Management of Sports-Related Concussions

A recent issue of the Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology contains a National Academy of Neurology position paper on the use of neuropsychological evaluation in the diagnosis and management of sports-related concussion.  Authored by Rosemarie Scolaro Moser, Grant L. Iverson, Ruben Eschemendia, Mark R. Lovell, Philip Schatz, Frank Webbe, Ron Ruff and Jeffrey T. Barth, the National Academy of Neurology found that neuropsychological evaluation was and is recommended for use in the diagnosis, treatment and management of sports-related concussion at all levels of play. 

 

From a neurolaw perspective, the article is important as it makes clear that the terms “concussion” and “mild traumatic brain injury” are synonymous.  While the authors acknowledge that the majority of athletes appear to recover fully within one month post-injury, some athletes can have lingering problems.  The position paper also acknowledges that professional football players recover more quickly than college athletes and  that college football players recover more quickly than high school players.  Clearly it is not coincidental that the recovery time is proportional to the level of athleticism of the injured player.  Certainly an explanation is that as a player moves from the high school to college to the professional ranks, the demands of the sport through natural selection result in the elimination of those less able to sustain the forces applicable to the specific sport. 

 

Those representing persons with mild traumatic brain injury and concussions should be on guard to those who seek to utilize the research on professional athletes to support the opinion that everyone recovers from mild tbi.