A Better Test for Evaluating Sports Concussion on the Sideline?

A study of mixed martial arts fighters in 2011 “helped establish King–Devick as a great tool for identifying head injuries, especially when a loss of consciousness was involved,” said Dr. Vargas. The fighters were tested before and after taking part in a match. After the match, completion times changed little from baseline among fighters without head trauma, but they did change for fighters with head trauma. After the match, the fighter with the poorest score in the group of participants without head trauma performed better than the fighter with the best score in the group of participants with head trauma. Participants with loss of consciousness performed the worst. The researchers concluded that a change of five or more seconds from baseline is a significant difference for the test.

—Erik Greb