Bucks schools offer pre-season concussion education

    Several schools in Bucks County are getting help to better recognize sports-related concussions.

    Students who play contact sports at Council Rock and Neshaminy high schools will take a pre-season computer-based cognitive test.

    “I had a basketball player this winter who took a small blow to the head, had a small headache nothing really big, but when we brought him in the next day and tested his reaction time,” says Mike Horan, head athletic trainer at Council Rock High School North.

    “His reaction time was testing at about half of what it was at baseline. So then we were able to say definitely to the coach, ‘He’s got an impairment here, so we’ve got to take this injury seriously,” Horan said.

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    The test charts a student’s memory and ability to do several tasks at the same time.

    Health professionals from St. Mary Medical Center in Langhorne helped design an education program for parents and coaches. Hospital workers are also pitching-in to help administer tests to several hundred students.

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