Wellspan: ImPACT Testing

The York County Lacrosse Association, in cooperation with WellSpan Health, has received a grant from The Pennsylvania Department of Health-Bureau of Family Health for the development of sports injury education and awareness. With funding provided by this grant our intent is to provide coaches, parents and athletes with educational information on concussion, ImPACT^TM testing and return to play guidelines.

Estimates regarding the likelihood of an athlete in a contact sport experiencing a concussion may be as high as 19% per season. Although the majority of athletes who experience a concussion are likely to recover, it is unknown the number of these individuals that may experience chronic cognitive and neurobehavioral difficulties related to recurrent injury. Cerebral concussion or mild brain injury rates in youth lacrosse vary among most studies but most professionals agree that rates tend to increase after full body contact is introduced.

ImPACT^TM, a neuropsychological assessment tool, was developed to assist athletic trainers, team physicians and other personnel in evaluation and tracking the injured athlete following a suspected concussion. The software program provides information regarding the severity of injury and a standard for evaluating recovery from injury. The program consists of a self-report symptom questionnaire, concussion history form and 7 tests of neurocognitive function that measure attention span, working memory, sustained attention, reaction time, response variability, visual and verbal memory, selective attention and non-verbal problem solving.

The York County Lacrosse Association requires baseline ImPACT^TM testing of all U13 and U15 level players. Athletes receive baseline testing through the Wellspan ImPACT^TM web-based testing program.

Concussion Management

Approximately 10% of all athletes involved in contact sports, such as football, lacrosse, hockey, and soccer suffer a concussion each season. Although the majority of these athletes will recover quickly, others may experience Post-Concussive Syndrome as a result of the injury. Athletes suffering with this syndrome may experience headache, difficulties with sleep, poor concentration or memory, sensitivity to light or noise, personality changes and depression.

Athletes that are not fully recovered from an initial concussion may experience Second Impact Syndrome should a second blow to the head occur. For this reason it extremely important that the athlete not return to play to quickly. In the past return to play decisions were based only on observation and player report of symptoms. Many athletes under report the symptoms not realizing the potential risks of returning to play to early. Now health care providers have a scientific tool called ImPACT^TM to aid in this crucial decision making. ImPACT^TM is a computer based test specifically designed for the management of sports-related concussion.

WellSpan Health, a credentialed ImPACT^TM Consultant (CIC) , provides a coordinated concussion management program that includes: direct access to local pediatric neurologists; ImPACT^TM web-based testing that allows athletes to take the pre-injury assessment at home or school; convenient post testing locations; free educational programs for your athletes and/or parents; and free printed educational materials.

More Information: Wellspan ImPACT^TM Site

Keeping Quiet Can Keep You Out of the Game

For more information on concussions, a video titled 'Keeping Quiet Can Keep You Out of the Game' is available. This video is commonly called 'Tracy's Story'. This video has been made available by YouTube.