Post-concussion syndrome
About 10% of people with PCS develop sensitivity to light or noise, about 5% experience a decreased sense of taste or smell, and about 14% report blurred vision. People may also have double vision or ringing in the ears, also called tinnitus. PCS may cause insomnia, fatigue, or other problems with sleep.
Prevention of concussions
Prevention of undiagnosed and repeat injury is of importance in sports-related concussions. Every three minutes, a child in the United States is treated for a sports-related concussion. Between 2010 and 2014, sports-related concussions experienced a 500% uptick. Rapid sideline testing using short neuropsychological tests that assess attention and memory function have been proven useful and accurate. The Maddocks questions and the Standardized Assessment of Concussion (SAC) are examples of validated sideline evaluation tools. The Return To Play (RTP) protocol aims to decrease repeat concussions within a short time frame to minimize second impact syndrome. It assures players who experience a concussion have complete cognitive and clinical recovery before returning to play. Best practices of RTP involve graduated activity intensification with each step taking at least 24 hours to assure full rehabilitation within one week (includes asymptomatic at rest and during exercise). In cases in which resources (i.e. neuropsychologists, neuroimaging) are available on-site, RTP may be more rapid. Baseline assessments, performed before concussion occurs, provide a comparison from which to measure severity of post-concussive symptoms. However, they have not been shown to decrease risk of injury. The U.S. based nonprofit National Safety Council included state-by-state concussion prevention efforts for youth-sports related concussions in its 2017 State of Safety report.