see also page 297

Neuropsychological testing to determine return to play strategies after sport related concussion has received increasing interest in the past few years. Initially simultaneously developed in America and Australia in the mid-1980s, it has been given added impetus by work in both American professional football and ice hockey. At present, most groups use “pencil and paper” tests as the mainstay of this assessment. This review presents an interesting window into the future of this approach by introducing the idea of computerised testing. Once validated, such strategies will open the possibility of neuropsychological testing to be much more widely available at relatively low cost to athletes at all levels of performance. There is also the possibility in the future that selected tests will be available on “palm” computers for immediate sideline assessment. This may sound far fetched but at least one company at present has a palm version of their computerised neuropsychological testing program. The wider use of such testing and the increasing expertise of team doctors assessing such injuries can only improve the safety of athletes.