Concussion baseline testing is done prior to your child starting their athletic season and allows us to be able to compare post-injury results to each child's pre-injury norm. Baselines help us confidently and safely return a child to full academic and sports participation.
Types of baselines:
There are different types of baseline testing evaluating cognitive function, balance, and oculomotor (eye muscle) function. Because all areas can be affected after a concussion, it is important to ensure that athletes have returned to their personal expected performance after a concussion before clearance. Commonly used concussion baseline tests include ImPACT, Axon/CogSport, SWAY, BioSway, and SportGait. Many Austin-area public and private high schools perform baseline testing prior to contact sports participation. Ask your child’s athletic trainer what they offer. When the school does not offer baseline testing, we recommend testing through an outside source.
Who needs a baseline and how often?
Elementary and middle school athletes: yearly
High school athletes: every other year
Baselines offered at SportsSafe:
SportsSafe offers ImPACT computer cognitive testing (evaluating cognitive memory and speed), BioSway balance testing, and VOMS (vestibular oculomotor screening). ImPACT can be done at home from a personal computer for those 12 and older. The test takes about 25-30 minutes. ImPACT for those 11 and younger as well as BioSway balance testing and VOMS are done in the office. Call 512-814-1616 to schedule.
ImPACT at home -12 years and up
To take the test at home, please read instructions below,
pay for the test via the PayPal link at the bottom of this page, and launch the test.
Pre-test parent instructions
- You must have a computer with an external mouse or trackpad. The test cannot be done on a phone or a tablet.
- Be sure to disable your Pop-up blocker and close all other programs. You may take the test on Firefox, Chrome, Internet Explorer, or Safari (Firefox and Chrome tend to work the best).
- Make sure your Internet browser is updated. You must have Adobe FLASH PLAYER 11.0 or newer installed. You can download FLASH PLAYER at www.adobe.com. JavaScripts must be enabled on the browser and the browser must accept cookies.
- Make sure your athlete is ready to concentrate and reads all instructions below before testing. No refunds will be made unless SportsSafe deems necessary.
Pre-test athlete instructions
- ImPACT is a challenging test! Test takers should invest their FULL attention to avoid getting an invalid baseline. The goal of the test is to be both fast and accurate. Take as much time as you need to get correct answers; however, also try to answer each question as soon as you know the answer. Try to be both fast and accurate.
- Please look through the pictures below for a preview of the sections from ImPACT. Also, read all instructions before starting each test section.
- Before the test starts, you will complete 2 sections. The first section includes demographic questions. The second section asks you to rate your current symptoms. Fill out the symptom section according to how you feel currently (that is different than your norm). For baseline tests, we typically expect symptoms to be zeros.
Payment and launching ImPACT test
After purchasing the test via PayPal, PayPal will redirect you to a webpage where you click the link “Home Baseline Testing” which gives you instructions to launch the test. If you have any problems with these instructions or are not redirected to the webpage, please email provider@sportssafecbb.com.
How to receive ImPACT results
- At the end of the test, you will receive a confirmation number or passport ID. Please save this information for your records.
- After the test is complete, please email provider@sportssafecbb.com with your athlete’s name, so that we can send you a copy of your child’s results.
