Cleared for Full Practice - 3 weeks After Concussion Diagnosis

It's 20 days tomorrow since my daughter's concussion diagnosis, and 4 weeks since she sustained her concussion. She's cleared to return to full practice.

Since ringette season is over, it won't be ringette practice but track & field/jumps practice. Ringette practice won't happen for a couple of weeks, and then it's pre-tryout tuneups, in preparation for ringette AA tryouts at the end of April.

Last week, she had 3 stationery bike tests. First at 50%, second at 100%. On Thursday, she spent 3 hour working on a school project with a friend, had a '3' headache after and pressure in her head. So re-did the 100% bike test and she was fine. Today, she exercised 2x on the elliptical at home (she's really bored) and had no symptoms at all. She was soooo happy not to have any symptoms (and we are too!)

Having had a baseline ImPACT test, she re-did that also. Since this was her second time doing the ImPACT test, some of her her post-concussion ImPACT scores were higher than her baseline. [Looks like test familiarity affects scores! Perhaps when a baseline is taken, it should be taken 2x if it's the very first time the player is taking the test.]

Saturday's Globe and Mail carried an article that Females More Susceptible to Concussion, Studies Suggest by Anne McIlroy, which says "...Evidence is mounting that women, who are more likely than men to suffer a sports-related concussion, also have more severe symptoms in the days immediately following the injury." University of Montreal's Dave Ellemberg is quoted as saying “The current clinical assessment protocols and return to play guidelines, which are almost entirely based on research with male athletes, are not only inappropriate for women but likely place them at a greater risk of suffering multiple concussions and experiencing long-term consequences of their injuries...”

We're glad we've erred on the side of caution, and look forward to hearing of further research.