Concussions Cause Cognitive Concerns

In Interviews
Published in ACP Internist

Patients are increasingly going to the ED and to their internists with concerns about concussions, likely in response to the recent media spotlight on the risks to professional athletes—especially football players. In many cases, however, patients are presenting with what even five years ago would have been dismissed as mere bumps and bruises, according to traumatic brain injury (TBI) experts.

Now the pressure’s on internists, who have traditionally received little training in concussions, to get up to speed on diagnosing and managing them, said Selina Shah, MD, FACP, a sports medicine physician with the Bass Medical Group in Walnut Creek, Calif., who provides comprehensive concussion management.