UO study finds that, for some athletes, concussion effects come back

Walking and working a mental exercise at the same time should be easy, right? That ability, though, isn’t so simple for athletes who've suffered a concussion, and, now, newly published findings from the UO's Department of Human Physiology raise new questions about when is too soon for young athletes to return to action.

In a study that took a fresh, more-focused look at data compiled for an earlier published study that focused on athletes suffering concussions in Eugene-area high schools, researchers in Li-Shan Chou's Motion Analysis Lab detected a pattern. Athletes returning to the field in less than a month were actually regressing in their recovery.

The regression, as seen in changes in their balance and/or altered walking speed, was found in 12 of 19 athletes. Ten of the 12 had returned to activity in less than a month. The findings are detailed in a UO news release.

—By Jim Barlow, Public Affairs Communications