Headaches in Athletes

Head Pain in the Competitive Aquatic Athlete-An Approach to a Differential Diagnosis and Management

ABSTRACT

Aquatic athletes not only face common headache etiologies similar to the general population and land-based athletes but also experience their own unique pathology. Posture, aquatic pressure, equipment, and even marine animals pose as unique causes to head pain in the aquatic athlete. Common head pain pathologies seen in the aquatic athlete include tension-type headaches, migraines, cluster headaches, and compressive headaches, including supraorbital neuralgia. Creating a thorough but focused differential diagnosis for head pain in the aquatic athlete can be a difficult and overwhelming task for some. We review both the common and not-so-common etiologies of head pain in the aquatic athlete and suggest a simple framework for assessment and treatment to diagnose and treat head pain in this specific population.

Concussion in the Athletic Training Room: a Team Physician Narrative

PURPOSE OF THE REVIEW

Concussion evaluation and management has changed significantly. Understanding proper recognition, evaluation, and management allows for improved provision of care to patients. This paper will approach this topic from a sideline to training room management versus the traditional clinic evaluation RECENT FINDINGS: Research is continuing to refine and examine tools to assist in proper concussion evaluation. Concussion recovery protocols are becoming more conservative as patients are taking longer to recover than previously thought. Treatment of concussion is becoming more sophisticated and patient involved. Concussion research has increased dramatically over the last 30 years changing our approach to diagnosis and treatment. The area of concussion will continue to evolve as research continues to look at effective tools and markers for diagnosis and effective treatment protocols become substantiated through research.

Sports Neurology in Clinical Practice: Case Studies

With regard to persistent posttraumatic headache, there is legitimate concern that duration of symptoms may have an impact on the efficacy of future treatment attempts. Without neuropathologic confirmation, a clinical diagnosis of chronic traumatic encephalopathy cannot be made with a high degree of confidence. Sport-related headaches are challenging in a return-to-play context, because it is often unclear whether an athlete has an exacerbation of a primary headache disorder, has new-onset headache unrelated to trauma, or is in the recovery phase after concussion. Regular physical exercise may prove beneficial to multiple neurologic disease states.

Headache in sports

Sports- and exercise-related headaches are not unusual. Despite their frequent occurrence in this context, there are little epidemiologic data concerning sports-related headache. The recent attention of concussive injuries and associated post-traumatic headache has renewed interest in the study of those headaches occurring after head trauma; however, any primary headache type can also occur in the setting of contact and/or collision sports. The nonspecific nature of headaches provides unique challenges to clinicians encountering this complaint. It is, therefore, imperative that physicians treating athletes are able to distinguish the various headache types and presentations often seen in this population.