Putukian 96 Managing successive minor head injuries

Putukian, M. & Echemendi, R. J. (1996). Managing successive minor head injuries: Which tests guide return to play. The Physician and Sportsmedicine, 24 (11). 1-10.

Type of Study:

Summary

Purpose:

Case report describing a female college basketball player who experienced a head injury during a game. When she returned to the game a month later, she sustained a second mild head injury, which resulted in persistent headache, cognitive difficulties, and reversal in hand dominance. She has since fully recovered. The case study address return-to-play issues for the head-injured athlete, especially the risk of recurrent injury.

Topics:

Discussion on courtside evaluation of initial head injury.
Discussion of inpatient and outpatient follow-up for an athlete.
Discussion of second impact syndrome
Explanation and historical background of neuropsychological screenings
Explanation of timeline restrictions
Discussion of neuropsychological screenings with college, high school and younger athletes.
Discussion of postconsussion issues.

Conclusion:

Neuropsychological evaluations are helpful in assessing athletes who sustain a concussion or concussions; however, baseline information is essential.
Neuropsychological evaluations are likely to be used more frequently with athletes as new approaches to testing are developed that allow for large numbers of individuals to be tested in a short period of time.
More research in this area is needed.


UNL	Sport	TBI