Research is underway in finding a quick, easy and simple test to identify a concussion. The most advanced test is a blood test using proteins as markers for a concussion, and is in Phase III of research with the US Military.
Tom Avril of the Philadelphia Inquirer wrote a great piece on this.
From a scientific perspective, no one really knows. Physicians can see when someone’s outward symptoms have returned to normal, as most do within a few weeks. But there is no lab test to measure internal damage from a concussion and no medicine to treat it.
“Absolutely nobody knows when it’s safe to go back in,” said Douglas H. Smith, director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Brain Injury and Repair. “If anyone says one week is good, three weeks is good, they’re not basing it on facts.” Continue reading
