Return to Play Concussion Protocol

Concussion knowledge and recovery practice is growing all the time and that's great.

The Sports Concussion Assessment Tool (SCAT) has evolved to SCAT3 (pdf) and there's even a SCAT3 for kids 5 years old to 12 years old.  A great central resource about concussions and concussion recovery is ThinkFirst.ca, where you can also download a pocket version guide for Concussion Recognition.

That's the assessment side.  What about recovery?

ThinkFirst has a 2-page PDF summarizing the Return to Play concussion protocol, which they have created from  the Zurich Guidelines outlined in the Consensus Statement on Concussion in Sport.  These return to play guidelines have been reviewed by the highly qualified ThinkFirst Concussion Education and Awareness Committee (visit this page and scroll down to see the members).

Post-Concussion Return to Play Steps (more detail):

  1. No activity, only complete rest
  2. Light aerobic exercise
  3. Sport specific activities
  4. Begin drills, without body contact
  5. Begin drills with Body Contact
  6. Game Play

Some steps require a 1 day wait-time, concussion symptom free, while others require physician clearance.

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