ABSTRACT
Clinicians disgruntled with the methodologic complexities, contradictory findings and slow progression of normal science in clinical populations turned to sports injuries as a less complicated methodological endeavor. A detailed premorbid history of sports related concussion and brain injury in general is necessary in all studies of cerebral trauma in sports. In addition, established multiple assessment preinjury test baselines and reliable change estimates appear quite promising. History simply relates to unique preinjury – premorbid factors athletes possess or have experienced that may bias interpretation of data. Typically, the experimental group is administered dependent measures after sustaining a concussion or at some arbitrary point in time following injury. The nonequivalent comparison group design with preinjury and postinjury testing provides the strongest inference for association between concussions and post injury cogntive-behavioral symptoms/deficts. Document the relevant historical factors such as age, education, general intellectual functioning, medical history, brain injury.
