Disclosures: Michael W. Harper, MD: No financial relationships or conflicts of interest

Objective: Sport-related concussion (SRC) is a traumatic brain injury suffered in sports that results in functional disturbances. Wheelchair athletes are a unique population who are difficult to diagnose with an SRC because they do not readily display signs of ataxia, the most identified sign of SRC in able-bodied individuals. The incidence of concussion in adaptive sports is unknown beyond one study on wheelchair basketball. For these reasons, we developed and implemented a novel Concussion Management Program (CMP) for wheelchair athletes at the National Veterans Wheelchair Games (NVWG) in 2019 that included creation of a database. A component of the CMP was a Concussion History Questionnaire. We reviewed the database to identify trends in concussion history.

Design: Retrospective chart review Setting : Adaptive sports baseline concussion testing at 39th NVWG Participants : 81 wheelchair athletes at the 39th NVWG

Interventions: We performed a descriptive analysis on the baseline concussion history in wheelchair athletes

Main Outcome Measures: Reported history of concussion, was the concussion reported, if not reported, why?

Results: We found that 35/81 athletes reported a history of concussion. Of that, 30 reported having a concussion prior to disabling injury and 12 reported getting a concussion after their disabling injury. In athletes that suffered a concussion, 23/30 said they reported their concussion. Many athletes did not report their concussion because they did not think it was serious or did not know it was a concussion. Conclusions: This analysis identified that 43.2% of athletes participating in adaptive sports reported a history of a concussion. The majority, 76.7%, reported their concussion. Those that did not report a concussion did not think it was serious or did not know it was a concussion. This study demonstrates that concussions do occur in this patient population. Based on this information, it validates the need for further education on concussion in wheelchair athletes for both healthcare providers and athletes.

Level of Evidence: Level II

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PM&R Meeting Abstracts - https://pmrjabstracts.org/abstract/concussion-management-program-in-the-wheelchair-athlete-retrospective-concussion-history-database-review/