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Understanding: Concussion Symptoms, Diagnosis, and Treatment Approaches Certificate Course offers an overview of concussion symptoms, assessment, diagnosis and treatment approaches. The two-hour course is designed for healthcare professionals seeking to enhance their foundational understanding of concussion-related issues.  Learners will complete an assessment to test their understanding of the material.

The statement seeks to provide athletic trainers and team physicians with updated recommendations to the 2014 National Athletic Trainers' Association (NATA) concussion position statement regarding concussion management, specifically in the areas of education, assessment, prognostic factors, mental health, return to academics, physical activity, rest, treatment, and return to sport. The recommendations are intended to update the state of the evidence concerning the management of patients with sport-related concussion, specifically in the areas of education; assessment advances; prognostic recovery indicators; mental health considerations; academic considerations; and exercise, activity, and rehabilitation management strategies.

The study examined whether a high volume of aerobic exercise after concussion is associated with improved sleep quality over a 1-month period. 36 adolescents who were recovering from concussion participated in exercising more than 150 minutes each week. Recommendations suggest that subsymptom aerobic exercise can be beneficial after concussion. The study findings indicate that exercise of more than 150 minutes per week led to greater sleep quality improvements than those who exercised below this level.

This webinar recording explores executive function deficits, and how these deficits can show up in everyday life, especially in those with mild traumatic brain injuries (mTBI). Viewers will learn about assessing executive function disorders and evidence-based treatment strategies based on INCOG 2.0 guidelines, and enhance knowledge of this facet of TBI recovery for improved care and support.

This case study focuses on a 16-year old student who was in a motor vehicle accident that resulted in mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) and multiple orthopedic injuries. The multi-disciplinary treatment team developed a plan to support his physical, sensory, cognitive-communication, and social–emotional needs so that he and his family could successfully navigate his return to school and community as well as his preparation for college entrance exams. The medical and school-based teams both recognized the importance of proactive, coordinated communication and integrated management to facilitate attainment of these goals and functional outcomes.

Treatment of persistent post-concussion syndrome requires a holistic approach because patients often have symptoms or difficulty functioning in multiple areas, including vision, vestibular, cognitive, sleep, mood, neck pain and others. Addressing all the affected systems requires a team approach that is, fortunately, becoming more and more common in concussion management. Optometrists and neuro-optometric rehabilitation specialists should be aware of and screen for chronic inflammatory response syndrome (CIRS) as a possible post-concussion differential diagnosis.