Provider attitudes and management regarding returning to drive after concussion.

The annual incidence of sports and recreational-related concussion in the USA is 1.6–3.8 million.1 Just as concussions are common in adolescents, so are motor vehicle crashes. Asif et al 2 recently showed that motor vehicle crashes are the most common cause of sudden death in collegiate athletes across levels of competition, gender, race and sport.2Driving is a complex task that requires coordination of cognitive, visual and motor skills as well as higher cognitive skills such as concentration, attention, visual perception, insight and memory. Concussion may induce a variety of cognitive perturbations that might compromise driving ability— including physical symptoms such as headache or dizziness, cognitive dysfunction, emotional lability, as well as impaired sleep. Though there are no published data on driving after concussion, there are published data regarding driving after mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). …