A head injury is not a wait-and-see injury.
Evaluation, baseline testing, and return-to-play decisions for athletes of every age — from the Bay Area's own hospital. If something happened today, start here.
- Cost to get matched
- Free
- Referral needed
- No
- Baseline testing
- ImPACT and SWAY
- Return-to-play forms
- UIL, provided
Dilated or uneven pupils · slurred speech · a severe or worsening headache · repeated vomiting · confusion or not recognizing people and places · extreme drowsiness or can't be woken · convulsions or seizures · weakness or numbness · blood or clear fluid from the ear · loss of consciousness.
Any of these means the emergency room or 911 — not an appointment request.
What a concussion actually is.
A concussion is a brain injury caused by a bump, blow, or jolt — to the head or to the body hard enough to move the head. It's a form of traumatic brain injury, and it can temporarily change how someone thinks, moves, and balances.
Two things surprise people most. First, symptoms differ from person to person, so a concussion rarely looks the same twice. Second, symptoms may not show up for days or even weeks after the hit — which is why “he seemed fine afterward” is not the same as “he's fine.”
You do not have to lose consciousness to have a concussion. Most people don't.
Symptoms show up in four ways.
Physical
- Headaches
- Dizziness
- Vision problems
- Balance problems
- Vomiting
- Sleep problems
Thinking
- Trouble concentrating
- Feeling slowed down
- Answering questions slowly
- Repeating themselves
Memory
- Can't recall events before the hit
- Can't recall events after the hit
- Looks dazed or stunned
Mood
- Irritability
- Sadness
- Confusion
One symptom is enough to get checked. You don't need the whole list.
How long symptoms last.
Most concussion symptoms clear in a few days to a few weeks. Some last months, and post-concussion syndrome can persist longer than that.
What moves that timeline is largely within your control: how quickly the concussion is diagnosed, whether it's properly managed, and — most of all — whether the athlete avoids a second concussion before the first one has healed. That last one is why return-to-play decisions are not a formality.
You can let them sleep.
The old advice about keeping someone awake after a head injury has not held up. Sleep helps the brain recover, especially in the first 24 hours. As long as none of the danger signs above are present, sleep is fine — and good for them.
Review the danger signs
There is no single test for a concussion.
Most concussions do not show up on a CT scan or an MRI. Diagnosis comes from a clinician combining objective measures with examination and the symptoms being reported.
- Clinical examination
- ImPACT neurocognitive testing
- Balance testing
- Vestibular and ocular motor testing
- Symptom inventories
Rest is the start, not the whole plan.
Treatment depends on which symptoms a person actually has. The research supports active rehabilitation — deliberately targeting the specific deficits an athlete presents with — rather than open-ended rest in a dark room. Your specialist builds the plan around the symptoms in front of them.
Test before the season, not after the hit.
A baseline test records how an athlete's brain performs when healthy, usually in preseason. If a concussion happens later, the same test is repeated and compared against their own normal result — which is far more useful than comparing them to an average.
You do not need a baseline test to be evaluated for a concussion. It just gives the clinician a sharper picture when one exists.
A computerized assessment of reaction time, visual and verbal memory, processing speed, and executive function.
A medical-grade balance and reaction-time test run through the motion sensors in an iPhone or iPad.
That's a normal place to be, and it's not a call you should have to make alone. Send a request and we'll get the right clinician to look at it.
Get it looked at.
One quick request — free, reviewed personally, and booked for you.