Concussion Management in Basketball

Sport-related concussion (SRC) has become an important topic of concern for the public, media, and sports medicine physicians alike with large sporting bodies turning to medical professionals to lead the way in keeping athletes safe while participating in sport. The sport of basketball is typically listed in the top five for incidence of concussion when classified by sport. Diagnosis of SRC is made difficult by the lack of objective findings such as changes on imaging and lab work and symptoms and their severity being different based on each individual injury. Management has been evolving including recent research showing the positive results of early subsymptom aerobic exercise prior to the step-wise progression through the return-to-play protocol. Complications of SRC can significantly affect the athlete’s ability to return to sport following their injury such as persistent symptoms lasting more than 1 month, the likelihood of a musculoskeletal injury following return to action, and the alarming disease process—Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy. The NBA, WNBA, NCAA, and the CDC have all created both policies on SRC including appropriate diagnosis and management, as well as preventative efforts to better educate athletes, coaches, and parents on concussions and hopefully improve the number of athletes that suffer from SRC, and its complications, in the future.