Recommendations for the Emergency Department Prevention of Sport-Related Concussion

Sport-related concussion refers to the subset of concussive injuries occurring during sport activities. Similar to concussion from nonsport mechanisms, sport-related concussion is associated with significant morbidity, including migrainous headaches, disruption in normal daily activities, and long-term depression and cognitive deficits. Unlike nonsport concussions, sport-related concussion may be uniquely amenable to prevention efforts to mitigate these problems. The emergency department (ED) visit for sport-related concussion represents an opportunity to reduce morbidity by timely diagnosis and management using best practices, and through education and counseling to prevent a subsequent sport-related concussion. This article provides recommendations to reduce sport-related concussion disability through primary, secondary, and tertiary preventive strategies enacted during the ED visit. Although many recommendations have a solid evidence base, several research gaps remain. The overarching goal of improving sport-related concussion outcome through enactment of ED-based prevention strategies needs to be explicitly studied.