Revised Dual Task Screen is a Valid Measure of Dual Task Performance: Developing a Motor and Cognitive Dual Task Measure with Healthy Female Athletes.
Kalena Giessler-Gonzalez, Brian Tracy, Patricia L Davies and 1 others
PMID 36943802WHAT IT FOUND
Healthy female athletes slowed down and caught fewer balls when adding a thinking task, confirming the screen detects motor costs.
Cognitive costs were inconsistent, with only the upper-extremity task showing a significant drop in accuracy.
Key findings
01Participants showed significant dual-task motor costs, walking slower and completing fewer catches when performing a cognitive task simultaneously.
02Dual-task cognitive costs were not consistently significant; the lower-extremity task failed to meet significance criteria, while the upper-extremity task did.
03Combining lower and upper extremity subtasks detected motor dual-task costs in all participants, though no participants with a history of concussion performed differently from those without.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The sample was small (n=19), healthy, and exclusively female young adults, limiting generalizability to men, older adults, or those with acute injuries. The study did not include participants with acute concussion, so it cannot confirm the screen's ability to detect injury-specific deficits. Cognitive dual-task costs were inconsistent, with one subtask failing to reach statistical significance. Participants completed conditions in a fixed order, which may have introduced practice effects. History of concussion was recorded as a binary yes/no without specifying the number of prior injuries, potentially masking group differences.
Declared interests
None reported.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume this screen is ready for clinical use with concussed athletes. The study only tested healthy individuals, and the cognitive measures were not consistently sensitive to dual-task interference. Furthermore, the gait analysis currently requires specialized equipment and software that many clinics do not have.