| Summary: | Background: Research suggests that musculoskeletal injury (MSI) influences cognitive functioning. Cognitive functioning following MSI in athletes is not evaluated currently. Purpose and Method: To examine cognitive deficit in athletes following musculoskeletal injuries, the Automated Neuropsychological Assessment Metric (ANAM) was administered to 22 varsity athletes prior to competition and following MSI. A healthy comparison group of 22 athletes was also tested at time intervals matched with the injured group. Results: A 2 (Group) X 2 (Time) repeated measures ANOVA revealed significant main effects for time on ANAM subtests of Delayed Code Substitution and Simple Reaction Time. Post-hoc Paired t-Tests revealed significant improvements in both groups for Simple Reaction Time, and a significant improvement for the comparison group on Match-to-Sample. Implications: Athletes with musculoskeletal injuries did not show cognitive deficit post-injury; however, the apparent absence of practice effects on a test of spatial processing and working memory requires further examination.
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