Baseline concussion tests — which are used to diagnose head injuries — can be computerized, or in a more traditional pen-on-paper format.
But one Texas doctor is working to bring the tests out to the field — on an iPad.
Dr. Anne Sereno, a professor in the department of neurobiology and anatomy at the University of Texas Medical School in Houston, created an iPad app that tracks the eye movement of athletes before and after a collision or heading the soccer ball.
Sereno said her first test subjects were girls who play high school soccer.
“I wanted to take the old method of tracking eye movement, and make it more mobile,” she said.
Sereno spent time monitoring a practice and used the app to determine a change in players who headed the soccer ball.
“The changes we saw correlated with the number of headers a player took in practice,” she said.
The sensory-motor tasks use both hands, Sereno said. A circle is surrounded by four squares.
“To begin, the patient has to touch the circle in the middle then tap a bull’s eye that appears in the squares at random. We found that there was a 30- to 50-millisecond slowing of the hand after a player headed the ball,” Sereno said.
Sereno’s app is not the only one out there aimed at concussions and recovery.
Dr. Gerard Gioia, director of the SCORE Concussion program at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, created an app with colleagues from the University of North Carolina and PAR Inc. for parents and athletes to help diagnose head injuries.
The Concussion Recognition & Response App asks a series of questions and provides information for athletes and parents. It is available on the iPhone App Store and Google Play Market.