Sometimes even a relatively mild head injury can result in concussion. A new app means that soon you will be able to test for it on your iPhone or any other smartphone.
Concussion is a traumatic brain injury and can range from mild to very severe. Normally its effects are a temporary impairment of various brain functions and, in most cases, they return without the need for any treatment other than rest and/or immobilisation. Typical symptoms of mild concussion are headaches, dizziness, balancing problems, coordination, sensitivity to light, blurred and double vision.
The app poses a set of questions that the person with suspected concussion must answer. It will then assess the likelihood of concussion and the severity of the injury by analysing the answers. It will also prepare an email containing its findings that can be sent to a doctor.
This will be particularly useful in sport where there tends to be a gap in the communications between doctors and trainers. The trainers are generally the first on the scene when an accident occurs on the sports field and this app will allow them to rapidly assess the severity of any potential injury and get the doctors involved at the earliest opportunity after concussion is detected.
In addition, by recording the symptoms close to the time of the injury, any change in the state of health of the injured athlete can be rapidly detected and monitored. Often with any form of head injury it is not the immediate injury that is important, it is how the state of the patient changes over time.
This will be the first app of its kind, although if it proves to be beneficial in diagnosis of concussion then it is likely that other diagnostic apps will follow, for instance the diagnosis of a mild stroke or heart attack. Collecting patient data in such a way on a mobile phone which can be sent directly to a paramedic crew who are on their way to a patient can potentially save lives.
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