Acute Sports-Related Head Injuries

Abstract

Injuries from sports-related head trauma are commonly encountered by primary care providers. These injuries vary in clinical presentation, severity, and outcome, with sports-related concussion (SRC) being the most common and more severe sports-related head trauma, such as hemorrhage, and "second impact syndrome" occurring rarely. Understanding the importance of immediate recognition, removal from play, multimodal evaluation, and typical patterns of recovery is necessary to safely manage an athlete with SRC. Proper care of athletes with severe sports-related head trauma requires a high index of suspicion and appropriate initial management to maximize survival and minimize morbidity.

Keywords: Diffuse axonal injury; Epidural hematoma; Head trauma; Intracerebral hemorrhage; Persistent postconcussive symptoms; Sports-related concussion; Subdural hemorrhage.