Many more concussions are being reported in the NFL this season, which the league considers evidence that players and teams are taking head injuries more seriously. A new two-minute test, called the King-Devick test, can identify disturbed eye movements associated with violent blows to the head that can be administered on the sidelines of a sporting event. The test comes as calls mount for tighter rules to protect young athletes from concussion and its sometimes persistent effects.

According to NFL data obtained by The Associated Press, 154 concussions that happened in practices or games were reported from the start of the preseason through the eighth week of the 2010 regular season. That is an increase of 21% over the 127 concussions during the same span in 2009, and a 34% jump from the 115 reported through the eighth week of the 2008 season.

The King-Devick test uses three cards printed with eight rows of single-digit numbers; a tester asks the test-taker to read the numbers as quickly and accurately as possible. The action gauges not only the test-taker’s balance, attention, language and visual recognition skills, but also his ability to sweep his eyes left to right over a landscape of unevenly spaced characters and keep them on a horizontal plane, then to shift down and do the same, again and again.

In the case of a concussion, a five second difference in an accurate reading suggested cerebral injury.

The authors of the study, published in Neurology note that the new screening could be particularly helpful in identifying athletes who should be removed from play and assessed for possible concussion in such contact sports as football, soccer, hockey, mixed-martial arts fighting and boxing.

Dr. Hunt Batjer, co-chairman of the NFL’s head, neck and spine medical committee stated to the Associated Press in December 2010:

“We’re trying to make sure that players have the message: Playing through pain is good; playing through pain is what sports are about. But that’s leg pain. That’s arm pain. Not brain injury. Because a brain injury and spine injury can threaten their future.”

Thirty of 160 NFL players surveyed by the AP in November 2009 replied that they have hidden or played down the effects of a concussion.

In youth sports, where there is a strong desire to protect youthful players, there are few tools available to help identify which kids should be removed from play. The King-Devick test, which is already being marketed to individuals, families and teams on the World Wide Web.

In the most recent test 29 young boxers and 12 mixed-martial arts (MMA) fighters were tested before and after sporting events in which they were at risk of concussion. Each boxer took the test twice before the event; all the MMA fighters took it the day before an MMA event, at weigh-in.

After fighting, all seven boxers who had had overt blows to the head and were given the military’s Military Acute Concussion Evaluation (or MACE) screening test for concussion, which takes 15 to 20 minutes to administer, but is considered one of the most reliable tests for concussion. All of the MMA fighters took the MACE test afterward, whether or not they had received blows to the head.

The eight athletes who had received blows to the head all performed significantly worse on the King-Devick test, and those who had lost consciousness performed most poorly. Those whose scores worsened the most were those who had fared most poorly in the military’s concussion assessment also.

Most people with concussions recover just fine with appropriate treatment. But it’s important to take proper steps if one suspects a concussion because it can be serious. About every 21 seconds, someone in the United States has a serious brain injury. As mentioned, one of the most common reasons people get concussions is through a sports injury.

The King-Devick test is an accurate and reliable method for identifying athletes with head trauma, and is a strong candidate rapid sideline screening test for concussion next year in the NFL.

Source: Neurology

Written By Sy Kraft, B.A.