title: Use of a tracing task to assess visuomotor performance for evidence of concussion and recuperation.
abstract: The likelihood of suffering a concussion while playing a contact sport ranges from 15-45% per year of play. These rates are highly variable as athletes seldom report concussive symptoms, or do not recognize their symptoms. We performed a prospective cohort study (n = 206, aged 10-17) to examine visuomotor tracing to determine the sensitivity for detecting neuromotor components of concussion. Tracing variability measures were investigated for a mean shift with presentation of concussion-related symptoms and a linear return toward baseline over subsequent return visits. Furthermore, previous research relating brain injury to the dissociation of smooth movements into "submovements" led to the expectation that cumulative micropause duration, a measure of motion continuity, might detect likelihood of injury. Separate linear mixed effects regressions of tracing measures indicated that 4 of the 5 tracing measures captured both short-term effects of injury and longer-term effects of recovery with subsequent visits. Cumulative micropause duration has a positive relationship with likelihood of participants having had a concussion. The present results suggest that future research should evaluate how well the coefficients for the tracing parameter in the logistic regression help to detect concussion in novel cases.
authors.affiliation: Psychology Department.
authors.forename: Damian G
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Kelty-Stephen
authors.affiliation: Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering.
authors.forename: Mona
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Qureshi Ahmad
authors.affiliation: Aeronautics and Astronautics Department.
authors.forename: Leia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Stirling
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001265:Athletic Injuries / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001924:Brain Concussion / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity