Sports Medicine Concussion Program
Sustaining a concussion can truly disrupt your daily life and seeking prompt care for a concussion is critical to recovery. At Wake Orthopaedic’s Sports Medicine Concussion Program, we help athletes (up to 22 years old) at all levels and abilities, and are here for you from the point of injury through your return to play or daily life activities.
Lead by Chad Greer, MD, the Wake Orthopaedic Sports Medicine Concussion Program provides assessment, treatment and rehabilitation for individuals who have had a concussion. The program utilizes a variety of clinical testing procedures including neuropsychological testing, and specializes in ImPACT baseline testing, a web-based computerized exam that test cognitive ability. It is the first and most scientifically validated computerized concussion-evaluation system and is considered the gold standard of testing across professional and collegiate sports teams.
Our sports medicine concussion specialist, alongside WakeMed’s highly specialized neuropsychology providers, are prepared to work with you to assess your condition and recommend a personalized treatment plan.
About Sports Concussions
A concussion is a mild brain injury caused by a bump, blow or jolt to the head or body. Concussions can cause a variety of symptoms which can appear immediately after the injury or may evolve over the next day. Symptoms can range from physical symptoms such as headache, dizziness, sore neck, nausea/vomiting, double or blurry vision and light sensitivity to mental symptoms including difficulty concentrating, poor memory and confusion and emotional symptoms including feeling irritable, sad or anxious. Concussions can also affect your ability to sleep soundly.
It's important to seek medical care soon after a sports-related concussion to help promote recovery from symptoms and allow for safe return to sport participation.
Concussion Evaluation
Diagnosing a concussion can be tricky as concussions don’t involve identifiable bleeding or bruising of the brain. As such, imaging technology such as MRI and CT scans are not viable options for diagnosis.
Though concussion symptoms can vary greatly, there are a number of tests our sports concussion specialists perform to conduct a thorough evaluation to identify what challenges you are experiencing and treatment recommendations.
Testing may include:
- Cognitive Testing
- Musculoskeletal Screening
- Physical and Neurologic Exam
- Vestibular Screening
- Memory Testing (with ImPACT, if appropriate)
Once evaluation is complete, our team works hand-in-hand with the patient, parents, athletic trainers and coaches to coordinate the patient’s safe return to play.
Concussion Treatment
Concussion injuries can have many different presentations and no two concussions are the same. Our concussion team will formulate a plan that includes home, sports and school modifications until you recover. As required by law, we follow the North Carolina Gfellar-Waller Act and will work diligently to get you back to activity as soon as safely possible.