Diagnosing concussions tends to be difficult for the average person, the coach of a sports team or medical personnel without the proper equipment.  Not everyone is walking around with a CT scanner or an MRI machine in their back pocket.

Doctors at the University of Michigan have developed a simple test to diagnose concussions.

Our brain injury attorneys know that concussions are a rising problem among primarily athletes.  New focus has doctors and lawmakers creating new legislation to protect athletes of all ages and skill levels from sports-related brain injuries.  Getting a concussion can be painful enough, but living with the after effects can be just as difficult.  Post-concussion syndrome affects thousands of people every year with symptoms of nausea, dizziness and headaches.

Living with post-concussion syndrome makes a second concussion easier to get than the first because the brain has already been jostled out of position.  This fact makes diagnosing a concussion very important.

Reaction time can slow if you have a concussion, and this test is designed to show that.  This concussion test uses a yard stick with a hockey puck at the end of it.  One person holds the top of the stick with the suspected concussion victim sitting down with his forearm on a table and fingers loosely around the stick.  The tester then drops the stick without warning, and the person being tested grabs the stick as fast as possible.

One doctor and his group measured college athletes’ reaction times at the beginning of the season and again with eight athletes with a concussion.  Reaction time was 15 percent slower on average.

The hockey puck/yard stick test isn’t ready for wide use yet.  Only about 200 athletes were used and eight concussions were measured.  A larger scale is required to test the effectiveness of the test, but the doctor says that it’s at least something.

“It doesn’t give you quite as much information, but it’s something you can put in your pocket and use very easily,” he said.

Our brain injury attorneys in San Diego believe that something is better than nothing.  Coaches on the field could theoretically use this test to make split second decisions.  If a player has a stubborn “I’ll shake it off” attitude, this can be a test to maybe change his mind after realizing that there may be a problem.

Call us now at 1-858-551-2090 or click here for a free consultation with an experienced San Diego brain injury lawyer and find out how we can help you.  We speak English and Spanish, and we look forward to providing advice for your case.  No fee if no recovery.