The Lack of Effectiveness of the Current Concussion Test

The lack of effectiveness of the current concussion test

One of the most prominent injuries in contact sports today is concussion, more than 300,000 sports-related concussions occur annually in the U.S. (AANS). Concussions are one of the most dangerous injures in sports because if ignored, it can lead to severe brain damage and even death. For athletes at the high school and college level there are currently standard concussion tests in place. However, the current concussion tests are not effective due to lack of evidence for validity as well as common testing errors.

A concussion is when a person suffers a severe blow to the head. Concussions can be identified by symptoms such as headaches, dizziness, vomiting, lack of concentration as well as memory, these are the most common symptoms with concussions however there are many more. Athletes often ignore the signs of concussion and blame it on stress or schoolwork. However it is always recommended that anyone who suffers any kind of head injury seek medical help within two days. There are many things that can occur after a concussion is sustained such as seizures, brain bleeding and permanent brain damage. Many athletes have the opportunity to take baseline concussion tests and then post concussion tests, which is a strong commitment to ensuring the wellness for athletes. Many colleges and high schools require their athletes to participate no matter what sport they play.

There are many versions of concussion tests, the most common are the ImPACT test and the King-Devick Test. The tests are pretty simple, they go like this- the athlete takes a baseline test that consists of simple demographic and other questions and then goes into more specific things for indicating concussions such as memory work, attention span, color matching as well as word matching. The point of these tests is to create a comparison with the post concussion tests results. If the athlete is believed to have a concussion a health professional or school administrator can give them the same test and compare the end results. It makes sense- compare their normal brain to a brain suffering from a concussion, right? But how effective actually are these tests?

The first thing wrong with the concussion tests is how the concussion tests are marketed and the power of the corporations. For example, ImPACT testing demonstrates the power of corporations. Mark Lovell, the CEO of ImPACT testing, was creating ImPACT testing while he was also the head of neuropsychology for the NFL (Keating, 2012). While he was overseeing neuropsychology, it was the primetime to promote his product. The NFL began using the ImPACT test and then soon after other leagues, colleges and high school sports followed. The old saying “monkey see, monkey do,” becomes pretty applicable right here. If professionals are using it, why shouldn’t we be using it? Of course colleges and high schools are going to begin using it as well. They are going to use the product that is sold the most because it is popular, assumed as accepted, and pleases the parents. If parents believe their kids are receiving top medical treatment and exams they will be happy. The critical shortfall is that most parents will not research how effective the test is because they trust and believe the schools. For Mark Lovell, it is a prime marketing product and an even bigger revenue producer but it is not the most effective concussion resource.