The Role of Sport and Location of Impact on Initial Concussion Presentation for Adolescent Student-Athletes Reporting to a Family Practice Clinic

Undergraduates: Reagan Page, Julia W. Gallini Melissa C. Kay Johna K. Register-Mihalik

Faculty Advisor: Johna K. Register-Mihalik
Department: Exercise & Sport Science

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Sport played as well as the location of impact of a concussion are common ways of describing a potential injury. By examining sport, location of impact, and resulting symptomology, medical staff have a more complete picture of the injury occurring. Studies have linked injuries to certain parts of the brain with a common group of symptoms. Therefore, the purpose of this abstract was to examine the influence of sport and location of impact on symptom, visual, and neurocognitive outcome measures acutely following concussion in adolescent student-athletes reporting to a family practice clinic. 306 subjects with concussive symptoms (n=181 males, n=123 females) underwent a standardized initial concussion assessment battery that included the following: vision, neurocognitive measures, and injury demographics (including mechanism of injury, location of impact, and sport). Mean participant age was 14 ¿¿ 2.1 years old (min=8, max=18). Two sample T-tests (contact or non-contact sport) were run for each outcome (symptom total, Near Point Convergence average, ImPACT domains: Verbal and Visual Memory, Processing Speed, and Reaction Time). One-way ANOVAs were run to determine location of impact influence on each outcome. Outcomes did not differ by sport-type or location of impact (p>0.05). These data suggest that acute symptom, visual, and/or neurocognitive outcomes do not differ by sport or location of impact. Future research should examine how these factors are associated with recovery.