Stage 2: Light aerobic activity such as walking or stationary cycling
Stage 3: Sport-specific activities such as running drills and skating drills
Stage 4: Non-contact training drills (exercise, coordination, and cognitive load)
Stage 5: Full-contact practice (requires medical clearance)
Stage 6: Return to full-contact sport or high-risk activities (requires medical clearance)At each step, the person should not have worsening or new symptoms for at least 24 hours before progressing to the next. If symptoms worsen or new symptoms begin, athletes should drop back to the previous level for at least another 24 hours.Intercollegiate or professional athletes, are typically followed closely by team athletic trainers during this period but others may not have access to this level of health care and may be sent home with minimal monitoring. Medications
Medications may be prescribed to treat headaches, sleep problems and depression. Analgesics such as ibuprofen can be taken for headaches, but paracetamol (acetaminophen) is preferred to minimize the risk of intracranial hemorrhage. Concussed individuals are advised not to use alcohol or other drugs that have not been approved by a doctor as they can impede healing. Activation database-guided EEG biofeedback has been shown to return the memory abilities of the concussed individual to levels better than the control group.About one percent of people who receive treatment for mTBI need surgery for a brain injury.
New "Head Impact Telemetry System" technology is being placed in helmets to study injury mechanisms and may generate knowledge that will potentially help reduce the risk of concussions among American Football players.Educational interventions, such as handouts, videos, workshops, and lectures, can improve concussion knowledge of diverse groups, particularly youth athletes and coaches. Strong concussion knowledge may be associated with greater recognition of concussion symptoms, higher rates of concussion reporting behaviors, and reduced body checking-related penalties and injuries, thereby lowering risk of mTBI.Due to the incidence of concussion in sport, younger athletes often do not disclose concussions and their symptoms. Common reasons for non-disclosure include a lack of awareness of the concussion, the belief that the concussion was not serious enough, and not wanting to leave the game or team due to their injury. Self-reported concussion rates among U-20 and elite rugby union players in Ireland are 45–48%, indicating that many concussions go unreported. Changes to the rules or enforcing existing rules in sports, such as those against "head-down tackling", or "spearing", which is associated with a high injury rate, may also prevent concussions. Treatment
Adults and children with a suspected concussion require a medical assessment to confirm the diagnosis of concussion and rule out more serious head injuries. After life-threatening head injuries, injuries to the cervical spine, and neurological conditions are ruled out, exclusion of neck or head injury, observation should be continued for several hours.