Posted on June 27, 2002 at 4:47 p.m.

BIRMINGHAM, AL — Each year, about ten percent of athletes who play collision sports such as football, hockey or soccer suffer a concussion after a jarring injury to the brain. Most are mild, but the risk of serious, permanent damage increases if the brain suffers a second injury while still recovering from the first. The challenge for trainers, medical staff and coaches has always been how to determine when a player can safely return to the playing field.

UAB’s (University of Alabama at Birmingham) new Sports-Related Concussion Clinic uses a computerized assessment program called ImPACT to help make that determination. ImPACT (Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing) is a computer test that measures individual player’s cognitive processing speed, reaction time, memory and visual motor skills.

“Prior to the season, players take the ImPACT assessment, giving trainers a known baseline measurement of that player’s cognitive function,” says Paul Blanton, Ph.D., director of UAB’s Clinical Neuropsychology Service in the division of neurosurgery and founder of the clinic. “If the player later has a concussion, his or her recovery can be tracked by repeating the ImPACT test and comparing the results to the baseline. It provides medical staff with another tool to determine when a player can safely return to action.”

The ImPACT test takes 30-40 minutes for a player to complete. Blanton is using ImPACT to gather baseline measurements of UAB football and soccer players this summer. Athletes in other UAB sports will also be assessed prior to the beginning of their seasons.

“In most cases, athletes can fully recover from concussions but it takes time,” says Blanton. “Returning to their sports before they are completely healed significantly increases the risk of further, potentially serious, injury.”

The National Football League and the National Hockey League have implanted ImPACT within their own programs. Blanton has evaluated two athletes from NFL Europe with the ImPACT program. The Sport-Related Concussion Clinic is also available to other athletes who have or think they may have suffered a concussion.

The Sports-Related Concussion Clinic is a collaborative program staffed by UAB medical specialists from the Department of Psychology, the Division of Neurosurgery and UAB Sports Medicine. It provides guidance to coaches, trainers and athletes in the diagnosis and management of sports-related concussions and can help determine when it is safe for a player who has suffered a head injury to return to practice or competition.