The consideration of post-exercise impact on SCAT3 scores in athletes immediately following a head injury.
Stephanie Iring-Sanchez, Jenna Tosto, Michelle Favre and 3 others
PMID 36961103WHAT IT FOUND
Rugby players without head injuries reported significantly more symptoms immediately after a match than at rest, overlapping with those who had head injuries.
Clinicians should interpret sideline symptom scores cautiously, recognizing that intense exercise and contact alone can elevate symptom reporting.
Key findings
01Players with a head injury reported significantly more symptoms and greater severity than controls, but 41% of controls reported symptoms above the median score of the injury group.
02Exercise and contact alone elevated symptom reporting in controls, with 21% of non-injured players scoring above the threshold used to identify concussed players in other studies.
03Symptom clusters for Headache and Cognitive-Sensory were the most predictive of head injury status, while balance and cognitive scores showed no clinically significant differences.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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
No rested control group was included, so the specific contribution of exercise versus baseline symptoms could not be fully separated. Players were classified as having a 'head injury' based on mechanism, not a confirmed clinical diagnosis of concussion. Inter-rater reliability of SCAT3 administration was not assessed. The sample size was relatively small, which may have limited the ability to detect sex differences. Comorbidities and playing time were not controlled for.
Declared interests
The authors declare no conflicts of interest. The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that elevated symptom scores immediately after a match indicate a concussion. Intense exercise and physical contact alone can significantly raise symptom reporting, leading to false positives if compared against rested baselines.