Kettering Sports Medicine is a Credentialed ImPACT Consultant (CIC): Credentialed ImPACT Consultants are ImPACT partners with the education, training, and experience that comes with completing the CIC Program.

ImPACT is a computerized program that evaluates and documents multiple aspects of neurocognitive functioning, including verbal and visual memory, attention span, brain processing speed, reaction time, and post-concussive symptoms.

FACT: Recovery from concussion, also known as mild traumatic brain injury, may take days or weeks, with individuals often experiencing dizziness, headaches, double vision, memory problems, irritability, and depression.

What is a concussion?
A concussion is a brain injury that may be caused by a blow to the head, face, neck or elsewhere on the body with an "impulsive" force transmitted to the head. Concussions can also result from hitting a hard surface such as the ground, ice, or floor, from players colliding with each other, or being hit by a bat, stick, or ball. They can range from mild to severe and can disrupt the way the brain normally works.

What is ImPACT?
ImPACT is a sophisticated, research-based computer test developed to help clinicians evaluate an athlete's recovery following concussion. ImPACT is a 20 to 30 minute neurocognitive test battery that has been scientifically validated to measure the effects of sports-related concussion. In the preseason, each athlete can be given a baseline test. If a concussion is suspected during the season, a follow-up test is administered to see if the results have changed from the baseline. This comparison helps to diagnose and manage the concussion. Follow-up tests can be administered over days or weeks so clinicians can continue to track the athlete's recovery from the injury.

FACT: Premature return to play following a concussion can lead to potentially serious consequences.

Why use ImPACT?
ImPACT can help answer difficult questions about an athlete's readiness to return to play, protecting them from the potentially serious consequences of returning too soon. While traditional neurological and radiological procedures such as CT and MRI are helpful in identifying serious brain injuries (e.g. skull fractures and hematomas), they are ineffective at identifying the functional effects of concussion. Consequently, clinicians must often rely on subjective observations or patient self-reports to diagnose and track a concussion. This is where ImPACT can help.

Conducting baseline and post-injury neurocognitive testing using ImPACT helps to objectively evaluate an athlete's cognitive status. When baseline data are unavailable, ImPACT has a normative database of thousands on non-injured athletes, which can be used for effective evaluations and comparisons.

Learn more at www.impacttest.com.

FACT: About 10% of all student-athletes in contact sports suffer a concussion during their season.