Motor deficits and recovery during the first year following mild closed head injury

Abstract

The findings indicate that multiple motor systems are measurably impaired up to 12 months following mild CHI and that instrumented motor assessment may provide sensitive and objective markers of cerebral dysfunction during recovery from mild head trauma independent of neuropsychological assessment and patient self-report.

Rapid number naming in chronic concussion: eye movements in the King–Devick test

“…Evidence supporting this interpretation has been demonstrated in standard, non‐KD, reflexive saccade (single saccade to a suddenly appearing visual target) paradigms in subacute concussion36 and in chronic postconcussive states,15, 16, 37 in which saccadic velocities were found to be no different than in controls. In fact, normal saccadic velocities following concussion are not a surprising result, as diffuse axonal injury rarely extends to the brainstem in mild traumatic brain injury 38.…”

Quantification and analysis of saccadic and smooth pursuit eye movements and fixations to detect oculomotor deficits

“…In order for this approach to have applicability in clinical settings, it is necessary to provide a low-cost, highly portable system. Therefore, we are encouraged by the current findings given their sensitivity to the differences between groups despite the lower sampling rate, compared to traditional equipment used in similar studies (Heitger et al, 2002(Heitger et al, , 2004(Heitger et al, , 2006Suh et al 2006a, b).…”

“…While impairments associated with brain injury are often acute, many individuals exhibit subacute and chronic impairments as well (Carroll et al, 2004;Heitger et al, 2006). Further, there is heightened potential for incurring additional and compounding injury, as well as longer recovery times, after suffering previous concussive events (Guskiewicz et al, 2003).…”

Performance in normal subjects on a novel battery of driving-related sensory-motor and cognitive tests

“…The sensory-motor tests from the SMCTests battery have proven valuable in (1) quantification of sensory-motor deficits in persons with neurological disorders (DalrympleAlford, Kalders, Jones, & Watson, 1994;Heitger et al, 2004;Heitger et al, 2006;Jones, Donaldson, & Parkin, 1989;Jones, Donaldson, Parkin, & Coppage, 1990;Jones, Donaldson, & Sharman, 1996;Jones, Donaldson, & Timmings, 1992;Jones, White, Lawson, & Anderson, 2002;Muir, Jones, Andreae, & Donaldson, 1995;Watson, Jones, & Sharman, 1997); (2) determination of the effects of alcohol, time of day, age, sex, and handedness on sensory-motor performance (Dalrymple-Alford, Kerr, & Jones, 2003;Jones, Williams, & Wells, 1986); (3) investigation of the characteristics and detection of microsleeps during a sustained visuomotor task (Davidson, Jones, & Peiris, 2007;Peiris, Jones, Davidson, Carroll, & Bones, 2006); and (4) validation of computational models of the brain (Davidson, Jones, Andreae, & Sirisena, 2002;Davidson, Jones, Sirisena, & Andreae, 2000). However, they can provide only limited quantification of the higher mental functions that are important in the driving task.…”