Background: The use of telehealth has increased as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. As sports at all levels resume, sports medicine physicians may be interested in how telehealth can be used for concussion care. Questions/Purpose: We sought to assess how telehealth has been used in the baseline testing, diagnosis, and/or management of concussion. Secondarily, we sought to assess the strengths and weaknesses of telehealth for concussion care and identify aspects of concussion care for which telehealth has not yet been studied. Methods: A systematic review was performed in September 2020 of PubMed and Embase using the following terms: concuss*, "mild traumatic brain," "head injur*," telehealth, telemedicine, telecare, "mobile health," m-health, virtual. Studies included were original research articles investigating the use of telehealth in the care of concussion (including baseline testing, diagnosis, and management), published in English, and had full text available. Results: A total of 356 articles were screened, of which 5 were determined to meet inclusion criteria. These articles described the use of telehealth for managing concussion in military and rural settings. No articles involved the use of telehealth for baseline concussion testing of athletes or for sideline evaluation. Conclusion: Despite the limited original research on the use of telehealth for concussion care, the articles identified provide a foundation for exploring the potential value of telehealth in the office practice and sports team setting. Telehealth may expand the ability of a sports medicine physician to provide timely and effective concussion care to athletes during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. More rigorous research is needed.
Background: The use of telehealth has increased as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. As sports at all levels resume, sports medicine physicians may be interested in how telehealth can be used for concussion care. Questions/Purpose: We sought to assess how telehealth has been used in the baseline testing, diagnosis, and/or management of concussion. Secondarily, we sought to assess the strengths and weaknesses of telehealth for concussion care and identify aspects of concussion care for which telehealth has not yet been studied. Methods: A systematic review was performed in September 2020 of PubMed and Embase using the following terms: concuss*, "mild traumatic brain," "head injur*," telehealth, telemedicine, telecare, "mobile health," m-health, virtual. Studies included were original research articles investigating the use of telehealth in the care of concussion (including baseline testing, diagnosis, and management), published in English, and had full text available. Results: A total of 356 articles were screened, of which 5 were determined to meet inclusion criteria. These articles described the use of telehealth for managing concussion in military and rural settings. No articles involved the use of telehealth for baseline concussion testing of athletes or for sideline evaluation. Conclusion: Despite the limited original research on the use of telehealth for concussion care, the articles identified provide a foundation for exploring the potential value of telehealth in the office practice and sports team setting. Telehealth may expand the ability of a sports medicine physician to provide timely and effective concussion care to athletes during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. More rigorous research is needed.
Authors: Kimberly G Harmon; James R Clugston; Katherine Dec; Brian Hainline; Stanley A Herring; Shawn Kane; Anthony P Kontos; John J Leddy; Michael A McCrea; Sourav K Poddar; Margot Putukian; Julie C Wilson; William O Roberts Journal: Clin J Sport Med Date: 2019-03 Impact factor: 3.638
Authors: Ruben J Echemendia; Willem Meeuwisse; Paul McCrory; Gavin A Davis; Margot Putukian; John Leddy; Michael Makdissi; S John Sullivan; Steven P Broglio; Martin Raftery; Kathryn Schneider; James Kissick; Michael McCrea; Jiří Dvořák; Allen K Sills; Mark Aubry; Lars Engebretsen; Mike Loosemore; Gordon Fuller; Jeffrey Kutcher; Richard Ellenbogen; Kevin Guskiewicz; Jon Patricios; Stanley Herring Journal: Br J Sports Med Date: 2017-04-26 Impact factor: 13.800
Authors: Paul McCrory; Willem Meeuwisse; Jiří Dvořák; Mark Aubry; Julian Bailes; Steven Broglio; Robert C Cantu; David Cassidy; Ruben J Echemendia; Rudy J Castellani; Gavin A Davis; Richard Ellenbogen; Carolyn Emery; Lars Engebretsen; Nina Feddermann-Demont; Christopher C Giza; Kevin M Guskiewicz; Stanley Herring; Grant L Iverson; Karen M Johnston; James Kissick; Jeffrey Kutcher; John J Leddy; David Maddocks; Michael Makdissi; Geoff T Manley; Michael McCrea; William P Meehan; Shinji Nagahiro; Jon Patricios; Margot Putukian; Kathryn J Schneider; Allen Sills; Charles H Tator; Michael Turner; Pieter E Vos Journal: Br J Sports Med Date: 2017-04-26 Impact factor: 13.800
Authors: Magdalena Wojtowicz; Grant L Iverson; Noah D Silverberg; Rebekah Mannix; Ross Zafonte; Bruce Maxwell; Paul D Berkner Journal: J Neurotrauma Date: 2016-07-28 Impact factor: 5.269
Authors: Anne Mucha; Michael W Collins; R J Elbin; Joseph M Furman; Cara Troutman-Enseki; Ryan M DeWolf; Greg Marchetti; Anthony P Kontos Journal: Am J Sports Med Date: 2014-08-08 Impact factor: 6.202
Authors: John A Lucas; Justin B Moore; Stephen Davis; Johnell O Brooks; Christopher Miles Journal: Br J Sports Med Date: 2018-03-12 Impact factor: 13.800