Response times are greater , gait strategies are less efficient , and postural control deficits are greater in concussed participants compared with healthy controls both immediately and for some period following concussive injury , specifically under divided attention conditions .
Dual task assessment s in some cases were more reliable than single task assessment s and may be better able to detect lingering effects following concussion .
This article is a systematic review of the literature on divided attention assessment inclusive of a cognitive and motor task ( balance or gait ) for use in concussion management .
Serial Administration of Clinical Concussion Assessments and Learning Effects in Healthy Young Athletes
Objective : To determine if serial administration of the St and ardized Assessment of Concussion ( SAC ) and Balance Error Scoring System ( BESS ) would elicit a learning effect in young athletes and to determine the intratester reliability of scoring the BESS . Design : A prospect i ve study of 50 healthy young athletes who were assigned to either the control or practice group . All subjects were administered the assessment s on 2 occasions , 60 days apart . In addition , subjects in the practice group received serial administration of the assessment s on 3 occasions in the week following the initial assessment . Setting : University Sports Medicine/Athletic Training Research Laboratory . Subjects : Fifty uninjured young athletes between 9 and 14 years of age . Main Outcome Measured : Scores on 2 clinical concussion assessment s , the SAC and the BESS . Results : We found a significant learning effect upon serial BESS testing in the practice group . BESS error scores were significantly lower than baseline ( 15.0 ± 4.6 ) on days 5 ( 11.3 ± 5.33 ) , 7 ( 12.4 ± 6.2 ) , and 60 ( 12.6 ± 6.2 ) . We also found a significant learning effect upon the day 60 BESS administration across all subjects . We did not find a practice or learning effect with serial SAC test administration . The intratester reliability of the investigator ’s ability to score repeated observations of the same BESS test ranged from 0.87 to 0.98 . Conclusions : Our results demonstrated that serial administration of the BESS elicited a learning effect , which was more prominent during the t and em conditions . Clinicians utilizing the BESS as a measure of postural stability should be aware of the potential for improvement with repeated testing . Clinicians should not expect improvement with the SAC , as scores remained relatively stable across all trials
Response times are greater , gait strategies are less efficient , and postural control deficits are greater in concussed participants compared with healthy controls both immediately and for some period following concussive injury , specifically under divided attention conditions .
Dual task assessment s in some cases were more reliable than single task assessment s and may be better able to detect lingering effects following concussion .
This article is a systematic review of the literature on divided attention assessment inclusive of a cognitive and motor task ( balance or gait ) for use in concussion management .