N.Y. Symptoms include confusion, disorientation, and forgetfulness. For example, he says, a football player may forget the previous play or return to the wrong sideline. Contrary to popular belief, loss of consciousness is not a symptom of a mild concussion. However, Jordan warns, some athletes and coaches may think that if the player hasn't blacked out, he is all right and can return to the game. Treatment consists of waiting for the symptoms to resolve and reassuring the patient he will be all right.
Persistent symptoms deserve further evaluation.
Several recent studies have shown that high school, college, or other amateur athletes with a history of at least one concussion performed significantly worse on tests of learning and memory than their teammates who had not suffered head injuries. The greater the number of concussions sustained, the worse the athletes' scores, leading an author of one of those papers to conclude that a young person who suffers multiple concussions could have problems with memory, concentration, and decision-making severe enough to impair school performance. The risk of permanent brain damage is extremely low in children who sustain just one concussion during the junior high or high school years, says Ricardo Senno, MD, attending physician in the traumatic brain injury program at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. The issue is multiple concussions, and the severity of the injury. He recommends parents, coaches, and physicians think about taking a child out of a particular activity if he or she sustains two or more concussions in a season.