Amna Naz
100709849
Topic/Article: Concussion in Ice Hockey: Current Gaps and Future Directions in an Objective
Diagnosis
HLSC- 4414
October, 11th, 2021
, Part One
This review will be dissecting the article Concussion in Ice Hockey: Current Gaps and
Future Directions in an Objective Diagnosis written by Aynsley M. Smith, RN, PhD, Michael J.
Stuart, MD,† William O. Roberts, MD, MS, David W. Dodick, MD, Jonathan T. Finnoff, DO,
Janelle K. Jorgensen, BA,k and David A. Krause. This article was published on September, 2017.
This paper intrigued me the most because concussions are very common and can easily be
missed by practitioners. Not much research about concussions is done because they were only
recently acknowledged, especially in relation to sports. In fact, The National Football League
(NFL) rejected any relation between concussions and cognitive impairments.The main purpose
of this article is to depict the prevalence of sport-related concussions; specifically in ice-hockey
and how objective and quantitative diagnostic tools should be used, the authors explain how it
is very critical to correctly assess and diagnose concussions as they can be easily missed and be
detrimental for the brain. The aim Objective diagnosis tools is to quantify severity, create a
pronognosis and provide evidence-based treatment plan. Some of the current diagnostic tools
being utilized right now are the King-Devick test, quantified electroencephalogram and
neurobiomarkers. The article also explains the mechanism of injury as bodychecking, fighting,
falling and direct trauma to the head. In relation to lecture material, concussions and traumatic
brain injury are described by same initial head trauma. The mechanisms of injury are
accelerating, deceleration, penetration and rotational forces. In accelerating and deceleration
forces, the brain can move slightly move forward and backwards and can cause brain swelling.
In rotational forces the brain swivels the cerebrum on the brain stem and causes a shear
movement. In the lecture it is stated that concussions are diagnosed through cognitive and
behavioural testing, doctors mainly look for behaviour symptoms such as loss of consciousness
with movement and proprioceptive disorientation. The introductory paragraph of this article
elaborates on the rise of concerns regarding concussion while playing ice hockey. It depicts how
the Ice Hockey Summit has taken specific precautions in order to prevent and diagnose
concussions during play. They are essentially trying to eliminate fighting in the sport because it
is harmful and there has been many lawsuits filed by hockey players against the National
Hockey League. This is important to the content theme because it depicts the severity of
concussions. The underlying message of this paragraph is to portray the importance of using
properly diagnosing concussions and what precautions should be held in order to prevent these
injuries.
Part Two
The author’s theoretical approach is a form of a review article. This is apparent because
there are many authors in this study and they have discussed everything relevant to diagnosing
concussions. The authors have designed the paper with the following subheadings:
Introduction, Background, Subjective Concussion Diagnosis Process, Gaps in Current Concussion
in Hockey Literature, Components of an Objective Diagnosis of Concussion, King- Devick Test,
Quantified Electroencephalogram, Treatment with Promising Medication, Neurobiomarkers,
Promising Treatment Without Medication and conclusion. By discussing these topics with great
100709849
Topic/Article: Concussion in Ice Hockey: Current Gaps and Future Directions in an Objective
Diagnosis
HLSC- 4414
October, 11th, 2021
, Part One
This review will be dissecting the article Concussion in Ice Hockey: Current Gaps and
Future Directions in an Objective Diagnosis written by Aynsley M. Smith, RN, PhD, Michael J.
Stuart, MD,† William O. Roberts, MD, MS, David W. Dodick, MD, Jonathan T. Finnoff, DO,
Janelle K. Jorgensen, BA,k and David A. Krause. This article was published on September, 2017.
This paper intrigued me the most because concussions are very common and can easily be
missed by practitioners. Not much research about concussions is done because they were only
recently acknowledged, especially in relation to sports. In fact, The National Football League
(NFL) rejected any relation between concussions and cognitive impairments.The main purpose
of this article is to depict the prevalence of sport-related concussions; specifically in ice-hockey
and how objective and quantitative diagnostic tools should be used, the authors explain how it
is very critical to correctly assess and diagnose concussions as they can be easily missed and be
detrimental for the brain. The aim Objective diagnosis tools is to quantify severity, create a
pronognosis and provide evidence-based treatment plan. Some of the current diagnostic tools
being utilized right now are the King-Devick test, quantified electroencephalogram and
neurobiomarkers. The article also explains the mechanism of injury as bodychecking, fighting,
falling and direct trauma to the head. In relation to lecture material, concussions and traumatic
brain injury are described by same initial head trauma. The mechanisms of injury are
accelerating, deceleration, penetration and rotational forces. In accelerating and deceleration
forces, the brain can move slightly move forward and backwards and can cause brain swelling.
In rotational forces the brain swivels the cerebrum on the brain stem and causes a shear
movement. In the lecture it is stated that concussions are diagnosed through cognitive and
behavioural testing, doctors mainly look for behaviour symptoms such as loss of consciousness
with movement and proprioceptive disorientation. The introductory paragraph of this article
elaborates on the rise of concerns regarding concussion while playing ice hockey. It depicts how
the Ice Hockey Summit has taken specific precautions in order to prevent and diagnose
concussions during play. They are essentially trying to eliminate fighting in the sport because it
is harmful and there has been many lawsuits filed by hockey players against the National
Hockey League. This is important to the content theme because it depicts the severity of
concussions. The underlying message of this paragraph is to portray the importance of using
properly diagnosing concussions and what precautions should be held in order to prevent these
injuries.
Part Two
The author’s theoretical approach is a form of a review article. This is apparent because
there are many authors in this study and they have discussed everything relevant to diagnosing
concussions. The authors have designed the paper with the following subheadings:
Introduction, Background, Subjective Concussion Diagnosis Process, Gaps in Current Concussion
in Hockey Literature, Components of an Objective Diagnosis of Concussion, King- Devick Test,
Quantified Electroencephalogram, Treatment with Promising Medication, Neurobiomarkers,
Promising Treatment Without Medication and conclusion. By discussing these topics with great
