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Injured athletes often try to return tothe playing field much sooner than they are able. However, such actions can sometimes lead to more serious injury, or even death. In recent national news, a high school football player from New Jersey died from a brain hemorrhage after returning to practice, only three weeks after sustaining a concussion. Athletic departments across the country are trying to find ways to prevent second-impact syndrome - a condition where the brain swells rapidly after as econd concussion.
In an effort to monitor athletes who sustain a concussion, the Department of Athletics at King Low Heywood Thomas has adopted the use of a new software program called ImPACT (Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing). The program helps diagnose concussions and measure their severity.
ImPACT Concussion Management Software is a secure online test where athletes fill out a broad health questionnaire and complete a series of memory challenges. The tasks involve remembering words, shapes, colors, and other visual data. Once completed, the ImPACT softwarecreates a baseline reading of the individual.
If an athlete sustains a concussion, theImPACT software is an invaluable tool for diagnosing the severity of theinjury. The injured athlete retakes the test, and both the baseline and the new readings are compared. The level of the concussion is then assessed from this data and the years of normative data that ImPACT has scientifically accumulated throughout the years.
King Head Athletic Trainer Jason Bouton has been using ImPACT as a key component in his treatment of concussed athletes for the past two years.
“A large part of diagnosing concussions lies in individuals telling you how they feel, and students will often lieabout their symptoms because they want to get back out on the playing field,” he said. “With ImPACT, we now have an objective measuring tool for assessing concussions and we can really see how seriously an athlete has been affected by a concussion.
Bouton administers the test to incoming freshmen and new students in the computer lab. With each athlete’s baseline test recorded, Bouton has a source of data ready in case someone gets a concussion. Last year, Bouton had five students with suspected concussions takethe post-injury ImPACT test.
ImPACT is not only a critical resource for the King Athletic Department, but it is also an important tool for both Learning Framework Director Anne Moriarty and the School’s neuropsychologist, Ken McGrath. If an individual is diagnosed with a concussion, Bouton then refers the student to Ms. Moriarty and Dr. McGrath, who both monitor the student for cognitive symptoms. With this support system in place, injuredathletes are well on their way to recovery, both on the field and in theclassroom. Bouton credits the use of ImPACT as the first step in the recovery process.
“ImPACT is a tool that ensures the proper diagnosis for each athlete suspected of a concussion,” he said, adding, “As an athletic trainer, I couldn’t do this job without using ImPACT.”
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