Two major developers of concussion-management tools have announced a partnership that could expand the way youth-athletes are evaluated for head injuries.
ImPACT Applications Inc., the developer of the ImPACT neurocognitive test, and the maker of the King-Devick Test have partnered to “promote a multidimensional approach to assessing concussions in athletes,” according the announcement from both organizations last week.
I’ve written about both tests in the past, but as a brief refresher:
- The ImPACT test aims to guide return-to-play decisions by measuring a student-athlete’s “baseline” during the preseason of his or her sport. Once suspected of a concussion, the student-athlete will take the same ImPACT test to gauge how far off he or she is from his or her normal brain activity. (The more the baseline/post-injury results vary, the more likely it is that he or she has a concussion.)
- The King-Devick Test, meanwhile, is a concussion-management tool that can help guide remove-from- or return-to-play decisions right on the sideline. It’s a two-minute exercise that tracks subtle vision problems in athletes suspected of having concussions. Student-athletes read single digit numbers either on test cards or on an iPad, and if they struggle focusing on specifics, there’s an increased chance that they’re suffering some type of brain impairment. (See an example of the test here.)
Neither one of these tests is necessarily 100 percent accurate. In fact, a study published earlier this year in the .