Alternative approaches to the assessment of mild head injury in athletes

Abstract

The results from this study indicate that athletes demonstrate decreased stability until 3 days postinjury. It appears this deficit is related to a sensory interaction problem, whereby the injured athlete fails to use their visual system effectively. These findings suggest that measures of postural stability may provide clinicians with a useful clinical tool for determining when an athlete may safely return to competition, although these findings need to be confirmed in larger groups of athletes.