It’s baseline concussion testing season

Baseline concussion testing is something that active athletes should strongly consider. Photo: TownLift

PARK CITY, Utah – The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) suggests that baseline concussion testing should be administered by a healthcare professional once a year, pre-season.

The Park City School District, US Ski and Snowboard, Park The City Soccer Club, The Figure Skating Club of Park City, USA Nordic, Black Diamond Gymnastics, The Wasatch Luge Club, Park City Ski and Snowboard, The National Ability Center and too many local sports organizations to exhaust in this list have evolved their baseline concussion testing policies over the last decade to reflect such national standards.

Administrators go out of their way to facilitate athletes and their families to physically get into the office of a trained medical professional to take the test. Tests are comprised of three portions; a computerized visual processing exam, a verbal questioning/answering, and physical spatial awareness/balance functionality.

The half-hour-long, noninvasive exam’s compilated results are then made available to parents and to coaches. Coaches can then, right on the proverbial sidelines, i.e. ‘coaches knowl’ at every camp and comp, have that data readily available on an iPad, on their phone, on paper, whatever mode or medium of information delivery ensures accuracy and efficiency in times of distress for an athlete if need be.  

Baseline concussion testing has become so prevalent that EMTs at the Utah Olympic Park or at Woodward, along with Patrollers at Deer Valley and Park City will be open to receiving that data from a coach when making medical assessments in regards to a training athlete who has experienced an accident. Comparisons can be made for individuals after a head collision with another athlete or with any impact. After initial, field-of-play assessments are conducted, sometimes a medical professional will make a diagnosis at their facility whereby, the info may be technologically shared if doctors so chose to incorporate. A visit to an athlete’s doctor utilizes the baseline concussion testing numbers to prescribe the prognosis of graduates returning to learning. 

The AAP cites a properly fitting helmet as an invaluable tool in the prevention of concussions.

Baseline concussion testing is considered preventative thus not typically covered by insurance, a fact that doesn’t deter the vast majority of Park City sports parents to participate in the process.

In Park City, Think Head First and The Kutcher Clinic are two medical facilities frequented by teams.

The Centers For Disease Control (CDC) advises that everybody, not merely young athletes, who are at any risk of a concussion, which translates to everybody, would be behooved to do annual baseline concussion testing.