Example Intro 5

Concussions are the most common injury in all of sports, both contact and non-contact, from intramural college teams to professional sports. Not only are athletes more likely to suffer from concussions than the average person, but they are also at a greater risk to develop future brain damage as a direct result. Athletes must decide when they are able to come back to play. If one returns too early to play, one risks developing another concussion or potentially dealing with Second Impact Syndrome (SIS). SIS does not need to stem from a large impact, but any impact following a concussion has the potential to trigger the condition, which has only a 25% survival rate. Several tests are used to decide whether or not an athlete is able to safely return to the playing field. However, these tests are measuring psychomotor speed (time to think of something and then perform a task) as opposed to visuomotor speed (time to see something and react) which is far more game relevant. This results in some athletes returning to play before they have fully recovered. Studies show that upper extremity and oculormotor functions deficiencies can still be present a year after a concussion, long after other symptoms have faded. This had led to a call for more intensive testing for athletes returning from concussion. An obvious way to do this would be to implement some sort of test to measure visuomotor speed. Along with being relevant to the environment, incorporating visuomotor tests may increase the sensitivity of current post-concussion testing methods.