Jason Smith, who has missed suffering a concussion earlier this season, will begin spot shooting tomorrow. He completed day six of his post-concussion progression without any issues or setbacks.
This interview is from about a week ago–
Here are some details on one “return to play progression” that has been used to determine if athletes are capable of returning to the field/court after a concussion. This is courtesy of the International Conference on Concussion in Sport held in Zurich.
“To ensure a gradual and safe progression for athletes to return to play, the panel recommended a specific progression of activities. The progression levels begin with complete rest and progress through to return to play.
Each level should take 24 hours with the athlete asymptomatic (symptom free) before moving to the next level in the progression. If any symptoms occur during the progression, the athlete should drop back to the previous level and try to complete that level after a 24 hour rest period. The progression levels are listed below:
- No activity with complete physical and cognitive rest
- Light aerobic exercise (less than 70% of maximum heart rate)
- Sport specific exercise (drills specific to athlete’s sport)
- Non-contact training drills (more intense sport drills with no contact from other players)
- Full contact practice (following medical clearance)
- Return to play (normal game play)
Ideally, the progression should take about one week from asymptomatic rest to full competition.”
Honestly this doesn’t appear to be the same progression that Jason Smith was on, but it’s representative of the steps that are now being taken in professional sports to ensure that players don’t return too early from concussions.
Good to hear that Jason has taken a step forward in his recuperation. Concussions are scary, and it’s sometimes hard to tell how serious they actually are until well after the fact.