Every time an athlete suffers a concussion, we here about them needing to pass a series of concussion tests before being cleared to play again. Up until now we had never seen what these tests entail exactly.
CSN's John Boruk sat down with Dr. Dan Lazowick of Lankenau Medical Center who helped Sixers Coach Doug Collins work through his concussion last summer to try and get a better understanding of what concussed athletes go through.
The ImPACT concussion test is a computer-based program that measures mental and memory agility in addition to reaction speed and recognition skills. Boruk actually went through and took the test. It takes you through a number of tasks, such as word identification, design memory, X's and O's, distractor tests, symbol matching, color matching, and letter memory.
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The raw test score alone is not important. What is important is how your score compares to your baseline test that was taken prior to the season when you assumedly have all of your faculties and wits about you.
Perhaps we haven't had enough coffee today, but it looks really hard.
If you score high enough on the test, a popup video message from Nicolas Cage is played on your screen giving you a clue to a secret lair under the famous sun-rise chair at Independence Hall. There you'll find a secret passage to Modell's sporting goods where you can buy a new mouth guard and special concussion-proof helmet designed by Benjamin Franklin which will allow you to play in Sunday's game.