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Current Concepts in the Evaluation of the Pediatric Patient with Concussion

  • Concussion (C Senter and M Kapadia, Section Editors)
  • Published:
Current Reviews in Musculoskeletal Medicine Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose of the Review

A concussion is a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) that results in a change in how a person feels or functions after a force transmitted to the head. Nearly 10% of all sports-related injuries are mild traumatic brain injuries. Concussion/mTBIs have accounted for more than 3 million emergency department visits between 2005 and 2009 and present as an important public health concern.

Recent Findings

Physical, cognitive, and psychological functioning are known to be affected by concussion/mTBI, and various tools are readily available to guide clinicians through the initial evaluation.

Summary

Evaluation of patients with concussion/mTBI should include symptom report and balance, vestibular-ocular, and neurocognitive testing. Awareness of past medical history and pre-injury history of social, behavioral, and emotional functioning is essential to better understand the injury and to predict the expected course of recovery. No tool available can be used alone to diagnose concussion/mTBI or evaluate for recovery.

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References

Papers of particular interest, published recently, have been highlighted as: •• Of major importance

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Rehabilitation Medicine, Nemours, AI duPont Hospital for Children, 1600 Rockland Road, Wilmington, DE, 19803, USA

    Rochelle Haas

  2. Division of Behavioral Health, Nemours, AI duPont Hospital for Children, Wilmington, DE, USA

    Maya Zayat

  3. Department of Medicine, Cooper Univesity Hospital, Camden, NJ, USA

    Amanda Sevrin

Authors
  1. Rochelle Haas
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  2. Maya Zayat
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  3. Amanda Sevrin
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Correspondence to Rochelle Haas.

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Conflict of Interest

Rochelle Haas, Maya Zayat, and Amanda Sevrin declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

All reported studies/experiments with human or animal subjects performed by Rochelle Haas and Amanda Sevrin have been previously presented and complied with all applicable ethical standards (including the Helsinki declaration and its amendments, institutional/national research committee standards, and international/national/institutional guidelines).

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by Maya Zayat.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Concussion

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Haas, R., Zayat, M. & Sevrin, A. Current Concepts in the Evaluation of the Pediatric Patient with Concussion. Curr Rev Musculoskelet Med 12, 340–345 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12178-019-09561-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12178-019-09561-7

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