Recovery time discovery for sports concussions.

• Position: Your Life

The blood protein tau could be an important new clinical biomarker to better identify athletes who need more recovery time before safely returning to play after a sports-related concussion, according to a study in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology, Minneapolis, Minn.

Despite the millions of sports-related concussions that occur annually in the U.S., there is no reliable blood-based test to predict recovery and an athlete's readiness to return to play. The study shows that measuring tau levels potentially could be an unbiased tool to help prevent athletes from returning to action too soon and risking further neurological damage.

"Keeping athletes safer from long-term consequences of concussions is important to players, coaches, parents, and fans," says Patricia A. Grady, director of the National Institute of Nursing Research, Bethesda. Md. "In the future, this research may help to develop a reliable and fast clinical lab test that can identify athletes at higher risk for chronic post-concussion symptoms."

Athletes who return to play before full recovery are at high risk for long-term symptoms like headaches, dizziness, and cognitive deficits with subsequent concussions. About half of affected athletes see their post-concussive symptoms resolve within 10 days but, in others, the symptoms become...