Athletes Have Bypassed a Certain Concussion Test; Why Action Must Take Place

The NCAA has implemented several concussion protocol procedures over the years designed to protect football players. The Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Test, or the ImPACT, has been in effect for several years, testing athletes for concussions and the severity of those injuries. As players have taken the test however, they seem to have eventually found a way to bypass the system in order to return onto the field sooner than expected. In an article written by Jacob Bogage from The Washington Post, a new study from Butler University researchers proves just that. Athletes typically take the exam during the offseason to record a baseline score. The test was released in 2002 and has performed over 12 million assessments according to ImPACT Applications, the company behind the exam. Other professional leagues such as the MLB and MLS also provide the test to its players. “The computerized test asks subjects to answer word, design, color and symbol matching questions to test the brain’s function. After a traumatic brain injury, an athlete is asked similar questions in another version of the test, and the scores are compared. If an athlete “sandbags” on the original baseline assessment, he or she would only have to match that lower threshold to possibly return to action after a head injury. Nearly a third of athletes reported to researchers in a separate 2017 study that they didn’t provide “maximal effort” on computerized neurocognitive tests, such as ImPACT,” says Bogage. This is quite alarming to say the least. Bogage also notes that many of the people who work with concussed athletes are fully aware of their trickery for the exam, making matters worse. “Previous studies, including one cited by ImPACT’s “Administration and Interpretation Manual,” have found that the test successfully flags 89 percent of sandbaggers and invalidates their scores, which requires subjects to retake the baseline assessment. The test has five built-in indicators meant to flag any irregularities. But Butler’s study, co-researched by Indiana University medical student Courtney Raab, found only two of those indicators detected more than 15 percent of test takers who tried to trick the exam.” This means that essentially half of test subjects managed to defeat the flagging mechanisms without being coached. A more precise form of testing must be implemented by the NCAA to fully enhance the safety of these athletes.