Assessment of a patient with a possible concussion should include gathering information on the mechanism of injury, the symptoms the patient is experiencing, the timing of symptom onset, and the severity and persistence of symptoms. Concussion, also known as mild traumatic brain injury, continues to be a significant public health concern with increased attention focusing on treatment and management of this puzzling epidemic as well as controversies within the field. There is emerging evidence that early, targeted therapies and interventions aimed at specific clinical profiles of a concussion may be beneficial; however, evidence for identifying these clinical profiles and the efficacy of the therapy is still preliminary.

No guidelines exist regarding the disqualification of a patient from athletic participation after a concussion. For Michael, there’s the loss of a sense of purpose, and increasing self-doubt as his memory eludes him. He looks down, taps his feet together, reaches down to yank at one sock, then the other, wipes a speck of dust off his shiny new shoe.Concussion, even in its mildest form, can have lasting effects on the individual in a way we’re only just beginning to understand.

The importance of recognizing a more variable recovery timeline of concussions also received emphasis in a 2013 expert consensus statement. The second front in which Laskas succeeds -- and which really serves as the heart of the book --is in describing the specific findings Omalu made over the seven years to help raise awareness of the impact of this disease on many retired NFL players; and in how, instead of his findings being welcomed by the NFL and its appointed doctors, his findings were "marginalized" by many and completely rejected by others. Jeanne Marie Laskas is the New York Times best selling author of eight books, including the forthcoming TO OBAMA, a diary of the nation during the Obama years, and CONCUSSION, the basis for the 2015 Golden Globe nominated film starring Will Smith. This book is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. The differential diagnosis immediately after a head injury should include potentially severe injuries, including cervical spine injury, intracranial hemorrhage, or skull fracture.