Improvement in Symptom Severity, Cognitive Assessment, Processing Speed, Reaction Time and Visual Acuity in a Professional Hockey Player with a Prior Concussion

Background: A 23-year-old, male, right hand dominant/left-hand stick holding, hockey player with a history of concussion presents with occasional lightheadedness, fogginess, and a constant feeling of being in a “daze”. His Graded Symptom Checklist (GSC) severity was 48/162. His Standard Assessment of Concussion (SAC) was 26/30, Trails A (TA) 13.6 seconds, Trails B (TB) was 31.2, Trails AB difference (TA-B) was 17.6. His Simple Reaction Time (sRT) was 300 milliseconds, Processing Speed (PS) was 83 symbols matched correctly in 2 minutes, Choice Reaction Time (cRT) latency was 387 milliseconds and his Visual Acuity line difference (VA) was 1.2 on intake.

Methods: A five-day, multimodal program of receptor based neurological rehabilitation was administered three times per day, one hour per session. Each session consisted of electrical non-invasive nerve stimulation, neuromuscular reeducation exercises, vision therapy exercises, vestibular rehabilitation exercises, hand-eye coordination exercises, and off-vertical axis rotations.

Results: Following conclusion of five days of treatment there were significant improvements in GSC (-95.9%), SAC (+10.4%), TA (-22.1%), TB (34.6%), TB-A (-31.4%), PS (+8.8%), sRT latency (-21.33%), cRT latency (-13.2%), and VA (-83.33%).

Conclusion: Short duration, multimodal, intensive programs of receptor based neurological rehabilitation may be a viable method to improve neurological integrity and performance in individuals with Post-Concussive Syndrome. The authors suggest further investigation into short duration, multi-modal, intensive approaches to restoring neurological function in individuals suffering from mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI)

Keywords: Concussion rehabilitation, standard assessment of concussion, Trail Making Test (TMT), Reaction Time, MTBI

Conference: International Symposium on Clinical Neuroscience: Clinical Neuroscience for Optimization of Human Function, Orlando, United States, 7 Oct - 9 Oct, 2016.

Presentation Type: Poster Presentation

Topic: Abstracts ISCN 2016

Citation:

Antonucci MM, Link PE, Carrick FR and Barton DA (2016). Improvement in symptom severity, cognitive assessment, processing speed, reaction time and visual acuity in a professional hockey player with a prior concussion. Front. Neurol. Conference Abstract: International Symposium on Clinical Neuroscience: Clinical Neuroscience for Optimization of Human Function. doi: 10.3389/conf.fneur.2016.59.00058
Received: 02 Sep 2016; Published Online: 07 Sep 2016.

Footnotes:

1 Carrick Institute, Clinical Neuroscience, United States

2 Plasticity Brain Centers, Neurorehabilitation, United States

3 NeuroSynergy Associates, PA, Neurorehabilitation, United States

4 Harvard Medical School and Harvard-Macy MGH Institute of Health Professions, USA, Medical Education, United States

Correspondence: Dr. Matthew M Antonucci, Carrick Institute, Clinical Neuroscience, Cape Canaveral, United States, drnucci@gmail.com