Tara, age 16 - Girls Varsity Softball

Recovery course   

Tara was sore and complained of body aches following her collision in a girls varsity softball game.  She complained of focal head pain as a result of bumping helmets with another player.  The school psychologist and nurse readily made accommodations for his fatigue and feeling "slowed down."  Her headaches generalized in days 2-4 and her mother became quite worried.  She was referred to a local neurologist for differential diagnosis due to a family history of migraine.  Her postinjury testing revealed an elevated symptom score and decreased reaction time and memory.

Return-to-play    

It isn't a good idea to go from zero percent play to one hundred ten percent play without a return-to-play plan.  The school's nurse and psychologist helped supervise Tara's return to school allowing for rest breaks, reduced work load, and no formal testing.  As he became symptom free exertional testing was initiated. This series of steps took an extra week.  Meanwhile, Tara's cognitive functions were re-evaluated and found to have improved dramatically on all measures including speed of processing, memory, and reaction time.  Tara's emotional symptoms were stable and he was provided supportive counseling and education into concussion and its course.  Education about concussion was offerred to Nathan, his parents and his entire team.   Tara required over 4 weeks to recover in spite of being initially "cleared" to return by her pediatrician after one week.