In some ways, the growing awareness of concussions has created a new market for entrepreneurs to cash in on. The advantage of this is that there are some good products out there. However, we are also witnessing a flooding in the market with pricey products that have no scientific evidence to back them up. You also have to be careful because of certain clinics that have been opened and staffed by so-called specialists who have no training or expertise on alleviating the symptoms of brain injury. Buyers have to beware because everything from physical therapists to dermatologists to orthopedists have opened these unscrupulous clinics across the country. If you hear the term, "Concussion Management Specialist," understand that this term has little medical meaning, and in some cases, these fraudsters have given the title to themselves. In one of these schemes, a $300 genetic test claims that it can use a mouth swab to identify a child 's risk for …show more content…
This is not helping the industry to move forward but is hindering it in some ways. What can you do to find a reputable TBI clinic? First, avoid clinics staffed by spine specialists, dermatologists and hyperbaric oxygen therapists. They should have some prestigious affiliations, or the clinic should be staffed by experts who have had a long history of treating people with concussions. The biggest concern that most experts have with the industry is a Pittsburgh company known as ImPACT. This is a lucrative business that has sold 25-minute computerized exams. It tests memory, reaction time and attention span. This company sells their tests to high schools and professional sports teams at $1,200 for 800 tests. The problem? The studies were conducted by the co-founder Mark Lovell who may have had a financial stake in submitting the studies. The bottom line is that TBI is big business, and you have to be careful about some of the products that claim to