AOASM Position Statement on Esports, Active Video Gaming, and the Role of the Sports Medicine Physician.

ABSTRACT: Electronic sports, or esports, has a global audience of over 300 million fans and is increasing in popularity, resulting in projected revenue of over $1 billion by the end of this past year. The global pandemic of 2020 had little to no effect on these increasing numbers because athletes have been able to continue to engage in sports because of its electronic nature and fans have been able to follow them virtually. Esports has been recognized as an organized sport by the International Olympic Committee, the US National Collegiate Athletic Association, and several secondary school athletic associations within the United States. In addition, professional teams have been established in several major cities within the United States, Canada, Europe, and Australia. With the growth of esports, the necessity of incorporating esports medicine into the practice of sports medicine physicians has become paramount. Esports can be played on a monitor or screen and played using physical activity in what has become known as active video gaming. Within both of these platforms, there have emerged certain conditions unique to esports. There are also certain conditions seen in other sports applicable to esports athletes. This document will review the evaluation of the esports athlete, introduce conditions unique to these athletes and review common conditions seen in esports, discuss diagnostics used in the evaluation of esports athletes, introduce treatment options for conditions unique to esports and review those for commonly seen injuries in esports, discuss prevention of injuries in esports, and introduce a framework for the future development of esports medicine that can be introduced into the daily practice of the sports medicine physician.

Overview of Traumatic Brain Injury in American Football Athletes.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this review is to provide a summary of the epidemiology, clinical presentation, pathophysiology, and treatment of traumatic brain injury in collision athletes, particularly those participating in American football. DATA SOURCES: A literature search was conducted using the PubMed/MEDLINE and Google Scholar databases for publications between 1990 and 2019. The following search phrases were used: "concussion," "professional athletes," "collision athletes," "mild traumatic brain injury," "severe traumatic brain injury," "management of concussion," "management of severe traumatic brain injury," and "chronic traumatic encephalopathy." Publications that did not present epidemiology, clinical presentation, pathophysiology, radiological evaluation, or management were omitted. Classic articles as per senior author recommendations were retrieved through reference review. RESULTS: The results of the literature review yielded 147 references: 21 articles discussing epidemiology, 16 discussing clinical presentation, 34 discussing etiology and pathophysiology, 10 discussing radiological evaluation, 34 articles for on-field management, and 32 articles for medical and surgical management. CONCLUSION: Traumatic brain injuries are frequent in professional collision athletes, and more severe injuries can have devastating and lasting consequences. Although sport-related concussions are well studied in professional American football, there is limited literature on the epidemiology and management of severe traumatic brain injuries. This article reviews the epidemiology, as well as the current practices in sideline evaluation, acute management, and surgical treatment of concussions and severe traumatic brain injury in professional collision athletes. Return-to-play decisions should be based on individual patient symptoms and recovery.

Selected Issues in Sport-Related Concussion (SRC | Mild Traumatic Brain Injury) for the Team Physician: A Consensus Statement.

ABSTRACT: Selected Issues in Sport-Related Concussion (SRC | Mild Traumatic Brain Injury) for the Team Physician: A Consensus Statement is title 22 in a series of annual consensus articles written for the practicing team physician. This document provides an overview of select medical issues important to team physicians who are responsible for athletes with sports-related concussion (SRC). This statement was developed by the Team Physician Consensus Conference (TPCC), an annual project-based alliance of six major professional associations. The goal of this TPCC statement is to assist the team physician in providing optimal medical care for the athlete with SRC.

Selected issues in sport-related concussion (SRC|mild traumatic brain injury) for the team physician: a consensus statement.

Selected Issues in Sport-Related Concussion (SRC|Mild Traumatic Brain Injury) for the Team Physician: A Consensus Statement is title 22 in a series of annual consensus documents written for the practicing team physician. This document provides an overview of selected medical issues important to team physicians who are responsible for athletes with sports-related concussion (SRC). This statement was developed by the Team Physician Consensus Conference (TPCC), an annual project-based alliance of six major professional associations. The goal of this TPCC statement is to assist the team physician in providing optimal medical care for the athlete with SRC.

The stability of engagement over comprehensive neuropsychological assessment in student athletes diagnosed with sports related concussion.

We documented effort stability during neuropsychological (NP) testing examining failure rates on three Performance Validity Tests (PVTs). 65 student athletes, ages 8-21, were evaluated in an outpatient practice, following sports-related concussion over three sessions within 18 months of injury (mean=6 months). 7.7% of student athletes failed PVTs at all three test sessions, 7.7% failed PVTs at two test sessions, and 12.3% failed PVTs at one session; 28% of this sample was sub-optimally engaged for at least one test session, producing invalid neuropsychological data at the time of testing and 72% produced valid neuropsychological data across the comprehensive evaluation.