The American Academy of Neurology (AAN) has released a new guideline for the assessment and management of athletes with concussion. This new guideline replaces the 1997 AAN guideline on the same subject. “These recommendations are the best summation of available science regarding the assessment and management of sports concussion. One of the most important recommendations from this guideline is that an athlete who sustained or is suspected of sustaining a concussion should be removed from play that day and then be assessed by a licensed health care provider with expertise in management of concussion,” said Dr. Christopher C. Gaza MD, from the David Geffen School of Medicine and Mattel Children’s Hospital at UCLA.
Another important factor coming out of the new guideline was evidence that suggests high schoolers with concussion take longer to recover than older players – and should be managed more conservatively. An important distinction of this guideline from the previous one is that it “moves away” from the grading system of concussion. “We don’t find that the evidence supports trying to rate the concussion at the moment of impact and determine how severe it was or how long a return to play would be. In this case the assessment of concussion would be done individually with multiple diagnostic tools, and the management plans are individualized because there are different factors that contribute to how long an athlete might recover from concussion,” said Dr. Giza.
The study found that risk of concussion for boys is greatest in football and rugby, followed by hockey and soccer. In girls, the risk is highest in soccer and basketball….. Neurology Reviews April 2013