Shaking the head could indicate a possible concussion, Massachusetts researchers say
BOSTON - Researchers at a Massachusetts hospital have discovered a new sign that could indicate whether someone has a concussion and it's literally a shaking of the head.
Shaking the head
Scientists at Mass General Brigham and the Concussion Legacy Foundation said this new sign could identify up to a third of undiagnosed concussions.
After someone gets hit on the head, sometimes they'll quickly shake their head back and forth. It's what the scientists call SHAAKE or Spontaneous Headshake After a Kinematic Event. The sign usually begins within seconds or minutes of an impact and some athletes recall doing it in an attempt to "jumpstart" their brains.
"You see Bugs Bunny get hit in the head and he sees stars and then he does one of those," said Dr. Dan Daneshvar, a Mass General Brigham brain injury specialist and senior author of the study. "And so it's something that we were all aware of and, you know, just by the virtue of experiencing these things, but it's never been described in the literature before. It's never been evaluated for the accuracy and efficacy with which it can diagnose concussions."
Higher among football players
The study found that when athletes exhibit this behavior, they report having a concussion 72% of the time. Among football players, it's as high as 92% of the time. Researchers recognized SHAAKE in Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa's undiagnosed concussion during a game in 2022.
"Tua had a head impact and after that, he stumbled and fell and he reported at the time that it was a back spasm that caused him to stumble and that's certainly entirely possible," said Daneshvar. "But when we reviewed what happened, there was something else that seemed to be going on."
If a concussion had been diagnosed, he would not have played in the game four days later where he sustained another concussion and had to be removed by stretcher. The scientists said sports doctors and medical organizations should immediately add SHAAKE to their list of potential concussion signs and remove athletes who display it from the game.
