震荡Patients Who Feel Fully Recovered May Still Be Unsafe Drivers

Drivers recovering from a concussion may have delayed reaction times even when it’s been weeks since their head injury and they appear symptom-free, according to results of adriving simulation experiment presented at the American Academy of Neurology's Sports Concussion Virtual Conference。

“有的人concussionsoften have slower reaction times as a result, and do more poorly on tests of thinking skills after their injury than their peers without concussions," says the senior study authorJulianne Schmidt, PhD那an associate professor of kinesiology and a certified athletic trainer at the University of Georgia in Athens.

“Our study suggests that complicated driving skills, the kind involving split-second reaction times that could mean the difference between life and death, are the ones that may take the longest to regain after you have a concussion — even when all of your symptoms have resolved,” Dr. Schmidt says.

For the study, researchers asked 28 college students with valid driver's licenses to complete two simulated driving scenarios in a lab. Half the participants had sustained a concussion, and they were compared with people the same age and sex who had similar driving histories but no head injury.

在第一场景中，滚灯从绿色变为黄色，需要参与者快速选择是否制动或加速。与没有经历头部受伤的人相比，在测试环境下，持续脑震荡的人持续0.24秒，或者在测试环境下的停止距离的相当于15.6英尺。

对街上行人的回应缓慢

在第二个场景中,一个孩子跑进street, forcing participants to instantly decide whether to swerve or break to avoid a collision. Participants in the concussion group took 0.6 seconds longer to react, or the equivalent of 3.3 feet in stopping distance under the circumstances in this scenario.

当他们在计算机屏幕上看到特定单词时，在计算机屏幕上看到特定单词时，将参与者在键盘上击中空格键的单独考验在屏幕上没有找到有意义的兴趣组和其他参与者。

“This could mean traditional reaction time tests aren't the best measure of driving responsiveness and readiness,” Schmidt says. “And that could have important public safety implications, considering more than 3 million people havesports-related concussionsin the United States each year.”

This pilot study hasn’t been published or peer-reviewed, and the results haven’t been independently verified. It may have had too few participants to detect some small but statistically meaningful differences between the participants who sustained concussions and people who didn’t.

一些以前的研究发现，人们在脑震荡后立即损害了驾驶能力的反应时间延迟了。但是，仍然是持续多长时间的历史，当人们在车轮后面是安全的，或者如何在脑震荡后准确地测试驱动能力时，这就是较少的Landon Lempke是格鲁吉亚大学的博士候选人。

早期的研究发现震荡后驾驶受损

一种study published in 2015 in事故分析和预防使用精神健康考试，模拟迷宫驾驶测试，以及其他评估，在脑震荡后24小时后检查驾驶健身，两周后再次检查驾驶健身。脑震荡患者在24小时内完成测试时间比没有脑损伤的参与者的对照组。

一种fter two weeks, less than half the concussion patients had returned to driving, often citing symptoms like headaches, pain, and dizziness. Injury severity and lower scores on the tests done at 24 hours only partially explained how long it took concussion patients to return to driving, the authors of this study concluded.

一种n older研究，发表于神经心理学那询问脑脑部和对照组没有脑损伤，观看从驾驶员角度拍摄的交通场景的视频，并尽快确定潜在的危险。脑震荡的人令人慢，以发现其他参与者的危害。

最近，一份评论在2020年3月发布Sports Medicinefound that people can have slowed reaction times for three to more than eight weeks after a concussion, but that these deficits can resolve given more time.

Organizations such as the疾病预防与控制中心和国家运动培训师协会为当脑震荡患者可以提供指导方针safely return to sports, school, and work. But there aren’t any guidelines for resumption of driving, says一种lexander Crizzle, PhD, MPH是萨斯卡通大学萨斯喀彻温省驾驶仿真实验室司司长。

有关的：Post-Concussion Syndrome, What You Need to Know

Cognitive Tests Can Help Determine Readiness to Drive

“Usually, people are told not to drive for 24 hours after a concussion or even longer if they are still having symptoms,” Dr. Crizzle says. “However, typically the onus is on the person to not drive if they don't feel it's safe.”

Patients who don’t do well on standard clinical tests for detecting impairments in cognition, motor skills, and visual skills after a concussion may want to avoid driving until subsequent tests show these deficits have resolved, Crizzle says. Tests used to assess athletes after sports concussions that focus on reaction times and other symptoms may also help determine road readiness.

“Reaction time in general is an important cognitive and motor skill needed to stop the vehicle and stop at lights or signs, as well as to react to moving roadway traffic, whether that's cars, trucks, cyclists, or pedestrians,” Crizzle says.

“快速处理信息的障碍能力，使运动快速行动可以增加机动车辆事故的风险，”他补充道。

有关的：Does My Child Have a Concussion?

通过治疗，可能会丧失驾驶技巧

大多数维持脑震荡的人可能能够在休息时间后安全地恢复驾驶和其他日常活动，让大脑恢复说Mark Ettenhofer，博士那an assistant research scientist in the department of psychiatry at the University of California in San Diego.

Ettenhofer博士说，在职业或物理治疗等有针对性的干预措施中可能改善了长期症状的人。

“A patient who has slowed reaction times or problems with other thinking skills may benefit from cognitive rehabilitation, which involves practicing different cognitive activities,” Ettenhofer says.

“另一方面，一名正在经历持续存在的平衡，头晕或眼球运动的患者可能会受益于前庭康复，这涉及练习和培训不同的技能，”Ettenhofer补充说。