Whenever possible, the licensed health care professional should compare the patient’s baseline performance with post-injury performance. Consulting with family, friends, and school sources can help fill in this part of the clinical picture.
It’s important to get a good history, because there may be a strong relationship between previous issues and concussion symptoms. Note that some previous symptoms (
pre-morbidities) may now be more exaggerated, and recovery may be variable. There may be more symptoms that last longer. (
Co-morbidities will be discussed in greater detail later in this course.)