Horizons Fall 2015

6 NSU HORIZONS Sports Medicine. He has received several grants and authored papers widely in his field. He explained that there are many forms of brain injuries, and that while concussions are receiving “the lion’s share of publicity,” lesser traumatic injuries, or “sub-concussive hits,” also can cause damage over time. If there is not a limit on the range of sports, neither is there an age range on people treated at NSU’s clinic. Both doctors say they are now seeing injuries on even younger players, from middle school and even younger. “We recently treated an 11-year-old soccer player,” said Gedrick. Treatment for injury, of course, will vary. Athletes who are brought into the clinic are measured against the results of their online tests, as well as against normative standards of performance. Treatment can be adjusted accordingly. At the minimum for a mild concussion, athletes are told to avoid any physical exertion for three or four days. That, of course, makes sense. But, in what may be a surprise to some parents, Russo said, “patients are also instructed to avoid reading or studying” because of the strain it could cause. STANDING IN FLORIDA “In the state of Florida, there is no doubt that Broward County and NSU are at the forefront of concussion manage- ment,” Russo said. “Others are doing good work, but nobody else is doing what we do. Our county initiative is more aggressive than state law.” But if Broward and NSU are state leaders in clinical protocols and baseline testing, NSU is also moving on a third track: research related to concussion injury. Evan Smith, one of Russo’s fifth-year graduate students, is doing promising work studying the relationship of optometry to concussions. Could a visual tracking measurement in the future determine the extent and degree of a concussion? Russo and Travis Craddock, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the NSU College of Psychology and associate director of the Clinical System Biology Group for the NSU Institute for Neuro-Immune Medicine, are collaborating on a research study measuring blood metrics at the front and back ends of concussion. Could blood tests someday detect the extent of brain injury? Selected students provide direct clinical care as part of their doctoral training. “My students tend to be fourth-year doctoral trainees in the Clinical Psychology programs and Dr. Gedrick’s students tend to be third-year doctoral trainees in the Osteopathic Medicine program,” said Russo. In both cases, the students function as either clinical psychology or sports medicine practitioners under their supervision. Since the Miami Dolphins Training Facility is on NSU’s Fort Lauderdale/Davie Campus, the question comes up, are there any synergies with them? Russo responds that the NFL and NCAA have independent concussion policies and proce- dures. “Typically, the NFL teams handle these injuries in-house through their own sports medicine professionals,” he said. Gedrick pinpoints the emotional rewards that all those involved in the NSU concussion program receive. “It feels good to offer a service to the community that has been lacking over the years,” he said. “And it feels good to help ensure youth athlete safety.” Stephen Russo and fourth-year psychology student Elizabeth Machado review the online test designed to measure an athlete’s memory, visual-processing speed, and reaction time.