Nicholas Baca
Coach Kramer
Sports Medicine, Period III
December 10, 2013

Title: Neurological Testing of contact sport athletes and non-contact sport athletes.
Purpose: Compare the neurological results between athletes of different types of sports.
Background: The most common head trauma found in sports today is a concussion. This is caused when a head is struck which enough force to move the brain and cause it to hit the walls of the skull. Many go unnoticed, while some lead to a sudden black out to nothing at all. There are several short term and long term causes of a concussion that may harm the athlete throughout their life. Concussions may give the victims headaches, lack of motor skills, vision problems, sensitivity to light, dizziness, difficulty concentrating, and balance problems. This all depends on the area of the brain that is effected. Using test such as the SCAT 3 and the Weschler test we are able to get a baseline for all athletes. And analyzing these results we can determine the area of the brain that is affected and effectively treat the athlete.
Hypothesis: Athletes in a contact sport are more susceptible to inferior test scores and more errors than athletes in a non-contact sport and non-participants because of contact to the head and body.
Procedures:
1. SCAT 3 Exam: Follow instructions on the handout.
2. Wechsler Digit Span a. Have the athlete repeat numbers given in a reverse order. Failure to complete first attempt, athlete should try 2nd attempt. Test is complete when 2 attempts at the same amount of number sequences is failed.
3. Trail Making A & B Test a. Trail A: Place your pen or pencil on the Letter A. Without lifting your writing utensil, connect the letters from A to Z as quickly as possible. Record your time. b. Trail B: Place your pen or pencil on the Letter A. without lifting your writing utensil, alternate connecting letters and numbers. ie, A,1,B,2,C,3 and so on. Do this as quickly as possible. Record your time.
*In both tests, if the pen or pencil comes off the paper, the test must be redone.
4. Stroop Color/ Word Test a. Trial 1: Athlete reads the words in each column starting with the left column and finishing with the right column. The examiner should make a mark on the paper for each incorrect answer and record the finishing time. b. Trial 2: Athlete says the color of the ink the words are printed in. Athlete starts with the column on the left and finishes with the column on the right. The examiner should make a mark on the paper for each incorrect answer and record the finishing time.

Data:
SPORT
# of Athletes
SCAT 3
WDT(#)
Trail A (sec)
Trail B (sec)
Stroop Color
Stroop Word

SAC/30
BESS/Cooperation

Time (sec)
# of Errors
Time (sec)
# of Errors
Football
3
28,30,29
1,3,3
8,9,6
61,79,74
279, 279, 176
55, 77, 70
0,8,0
33, 38, 44
0, 0, 0
Volleyball
1
30
1
7
54
182
65
3
36
1
XC/Track
9
26, 27, 24, 28, 28, 28, 28, 30, 30
1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9
5, 5, 8, 6, 6, 7, 6, 8, 7
75, 104, 83, 48, 56, 66, 58, 95, 58
254, 155, 164, 163, 213, 202, 243, 185, 206
51, 70, 75, 70, 70, 71, 80, 40, 63
0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 2
36, 50, 34, 35, 50, 30, 29, 44, 30, 40
0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1
Swimming
4
27, 28, 29, 27
12, 4, 3, 4
7, 5, 8, 6
73, 59, 56, 65
198, 175, 138, 163
78, 72, 79, 35
3, 0, 0, 1
49, 57, 34, 54
1, 0, 0, 0
Tennis
1
28
2
7
83
206
63
0
50
1
Basketball
2
29, 27
4, 3
6, 5
51, 58
134, 202
71, 80
2, 2
36, 35
0, 0
Soccer
2
27, 26
1, 2
5, 5
124, 81
155, 245
64, 71
0, 0
36, 34
0, 0
Cheer/Dance
2
29, 28
1, 5
6, 8
40, 56
78, 163
75, 70
0, 0
27, 50
0, 0
Baseball/Softball
3
29, 27, 25
1, 8, 3
6, 7, 7
54, 120, 74
182, 190, 198
63, 40, 78
2, 3, 1
35, 38, 70
0, 1, 1
Non-participants
5
25, 28, 24, 30, 29
4, 3, 2, 3, 3
5, 4, 6, 5, 9
107, 80, 66, 62, 61
102, 178, 213, 170, 191
30, 75, 65, 44, 55
0, 0, 0, 6, 1
42, 52, 80, 41, 38
1, 2, 1, 2, 1

Analysis:
1. Match each neurological test with the part of the brain being tested.
-In the Weschler Digit Span the parietal