Assessment and Treatment of Sport-Related Concussion

Too often, a patient is seen after sustaining a concussion and given little to no guidance regarding how to effectively and safely return to school and sport without excessivesymptom provocation. These patients frequently show symptoms well beyond the typical timeline, as they have missed out on proper rehabilitation opportunities and potentially have developed secondary signs and symptoms related to prolonged removal from school and sport, such as psychosocial dysfunction and deconditioning. Rehabilitative clinicians now are involved with care of these patients from diagnosis to full recovery.

This course will briefly address the multi-system involvement, not limited to oculomotor, vestibular, orthopaedic and cardiovascular, in the assessment and rehabilitation of the concussed athlete. The complexity of how each of these systems contributes to impairments and functional limitations will be reviewed. The most up to dateresearch on evidence-based assessment tools will be presented as well as best practice tools for rehabilitation. Thiscourse will arm the clinician with tips to minimize symptoms in each domain to allow the student to return to school relatedactivities earlier and minimize days lost from school. Additionally, the clinician will examine the importance of instructing a step-wise progression of exercises from each individual system involved, to functional progressions of exercises, to eventual sport specific and non-contact sport related skills. After completion of this course, the rehabilitative clinician will be an integral part of the medical managementteam for those who have sustained a concussion/TBI.

Highlights

• Improve your ability to identify red and yellow flags of concussion and when an athlete should be immediately removed from play.
• Identify various system contributions to symptoms thatmay limit participation in sport-related activities or ultimatelyhinder return to play
• Learn evidence-based exercise prescriptions and evidence-informed return to sport protocols that are safe, effective, and efficient at returning the athlete safely back to sport.

Target Audience: Physical Therapists, Physical Therapist Assistants, Occupational Therapists, Occupational Therapy Assistants, Athletic Trainers