A concussion is a traumatic brain injury caused by a blow to the head or body, a fall or any other injury that jars or shakes the brain inside of the skull. With concussions, there may not be any obvious signs of injury externally, but a person may have still sustained a brain injury.

A person does not have to pass out in order to have a concussion, and some people do not have obvious symptoms of a concussion; such as forgetting what happened right before the injury. Most people fully recover from concussions with recovery times averaging from a few hours to a few weeks.

There are many signs that can indicate a concussion has happened but it is not always easy to tell if someone has had a concussion. Some symptoms are mild and some may last for months. Symptoms include:

* Headache
* Blurred vision
* Nausea and vomiting
* Dizziness
* Problems thinking and remembering
* Feeling slowed down
* Not being able to concentrate

Barrow, The Arizona Interscholastic Association (AIA), and the Arizona Cardinals recently announced a major breakthrough in concussion prevention and research that is changing the face of high school sports. Arizona recently became the first in the United States to mandate all student athletes undergo concussion education and pass a formal test before play through a new program called Barrow Brainbook.

All 100,000 student athletes through the AIA receive their concussion education through Barrow Brainbook, an interactive online site specifically geared toward students. Arizona is the first to define and create the education directly targeting students through a new e-learning module. The AIA is the first to require that every student complete and pass the education module in order to participate in athletics.

Barrow Brainbook is currently being evaluated for implementation in other states throughout the nation.