Preliminary Use of the Physical and Neurological Examination of Subtle Signs for Detecting Subtle Motor Signs in Adolescents With Sport-Related Concussion.
Jaclyn A Stephens, Martha B Denckla, Teri McCambridge and 3 others
PMID 29762156WHAT IT FOUND
Adolescents with recent sport concussion performed worse on bedside subtle motor tests while symptomatic and after clinical recovery, compared with never-concussed athletes.
The timed movement subscore remained poorer after recovery.
Key findings
01The concussion group had poorer PANESS Total scores than controls at both the first and last study visits.
02The concussion group had poorer PANESS Total Timed scores than controls at both visits, while the Gaits and Stations subscore was poorer only at the first visit.
03ImPACT showed early deficits in visual memory, visual motor speed and reaction time, but no significant differences at the last visit.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The study was small, with 15 concussion participants and 20 controls, and only 5 concussion participants were female. No pre-injury PANESS scores were collected, so poorer scores could have existed before concussion. Recovery timing varied, and six participants had a third visit, which may affect comparisons. Controls were healthy athletes, not athletes recovering from other injuries, so non-concussion injuries could influence scores. The paper does not show that PANESS predicts neurological recovery or later injury risk.
Declared interests
The authors reported no competing interests or financial benefit. The article is listed as NIH extramural research support.
The easy way to misread this
Do not use a poor PANESS score to block return to play or to claim incomplete neurological recovery. This was a small pilot without pre-injury scores, and the authors state the link to neurological recovery and later injury must be tested.