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TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY & SPORTS CONCUSSION Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI) occur for a variety of reasons, from sports-related injuries (e.g., concussions) to car accidents. The impact that the TBI can have on cognitive, emotional and behavioral functioning depends on the location and extent of the damage. Location helps determine what functions are going to be impacted. For example, damage to the left side of the brain may involve deficits in speech production and motor control of the right side of the body. The extent of the damage determines how severe the loss of functioning is, recovery time and whether the deficits that result are limited to a few domains of functioning or are more extensive. With more severe injuries, including those where loss of consciousness lasted for more than a very brief period of time, the cognitive deficits are likley to be more serious. With mild brain injuries, such as concussion sustained during athletic competition, more subtle deficits will impact functioning. These subtle deficits are more difficult to pick up simply by talking to the person. The symptoms reported may include fatigue, irritability, headaches, personality change, and attention and memory problems. The goal of the neuropsychological evaluation when dealing with TBI is to elucidate the changes that have occurred in functioning, the services from the school and treatment team that may be necessary to improve daily functioning and to monitor progress and modify the services as needed. For sports-related injuries, return to play is an important component of the evaluation. This often involves multiple administration of cognitive and emotional measures to determine if the athlete's functioning has returned to baseline. Dr. Rozenblatt uses the ImPACT test in order to help determine how an athlete is functioning and whether he or she can safely return to play (along with the opinion of medical personnel and the athletic trainer and coaching staff). For more information, contact Dr. Rozenblatt at (866) 840-9790 or neuro@advancedpsy.com. |
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