Citation

Howell DR, Beasley M, Vopat L, Meehan W. J. Neurotrauma 2016; 34(4): 838-844.

Affiliation

The Micheli Center for Sports Injury Prevention, Waltham, Massachusetts, United States ; William.Meehan@childrens.harvard.edu.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, Mary Ann Liebert Publishers)

DOI

10.1089/neu.2016.4609

PMID

27541061

Abstract

Sustaining repeated concussions has been associated with worse outcomes after additional injuries. This effect has been identified using symptom inventories and neurocognitive tests, but few investigations have examined how a prior concussion history affects gait soon after a subsequent concussion. We examined the gait characteristics of athletes with no documented concussion history (n=31), athletes recovering from their first lifetime concussion (n=15), and athletes recovering from their second or greater lifetime concussion (n=22). All participants completed a single-task and dual-task gait examination, a medical history questionnaire, and a post-concussion symptom scale. MANCOVA models were used to evaluate mean gait differences between groups and Spearman's ρ analyses were used to assess correlations between the number of lifetime concussions and gait characteristics. Patients reporting to the clinic with their second or greater lifetime concussion demonstrated smaller stride lengths than healthy control participants during dual-task walking (p=.01; D = 0.70). A moderate, but insignificant correlation was detected between dual-task gait speed and the number of prior concussions (ρ=.41, p =.07). These results indicate that a cumulative effect of concussions across the lifetime may contribute to worsening dual-task dynamic motor function after concussion.

Language: en