Novel Pre-Season Concussion Baseline Assessment Including Protocols based on Recognizable Clinically-Relevant Neurosensory Methodologies

Abstract

Objective Our goal was to develop and validate a neurophysiological-centric baseline model that can be appreciated by the broader neuro community and practically utilized by the sports community. Background As concussions, a mild traumatic brain injury, and other traumatic brain injuries gain notoriety amongst public awareness, there has been a rise in available computer-based concussion baseline assessments. Furthermore, states, sporting agencies, and schools are mandating implementation of concussion baselines. However, validation and standardization of these current baseline neurological tests have been remiss and are often not utilized by medical or neurological practitioners, making their utility suspect. Design/Methods We applied our neurocognitive baseline program to college football freshmen and high school aged ice hockey players. The list of baseline assessments is: eye-hand coordination reaction time using the Dynavision D2TMdevice, stereopsis measurements, phoria, oculomotor performance, electroretinography and visual-evoked potential, binocularity, optical coherence tomography, peripheral vision assessments, and balance. Results The results suggest that this baseline program can be performed as a battery appropriate for a pre-participation examination prior to sport participation. The data derived from said baseline can be interpreted by sport, age and gender specific. These demographics can also be examined for developing normative data and useful for identifying subjects outside this normal. Conclusions It is felt that the current state of concussion baselines for athletic organizations are inadequate. We chose to identify a series of baseline tests that aremore clinically-relevant and easy to performas evidenced fromthe preseason baseline used by the University of Cincinnati athletes and noncollegiate athletes. These baselines are used as part of the standard preparticipation examination, further providing valuable insight into the development of sports vision training performance enhancement programs and extensively relied upon as a pre-season concussion baseline. We feel this model has enhanced clinical utility compared to the current wide spread computer-based neuropsychological assessments.