Possible future use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to support sports-related concussion care

This article was initially published in the 8/27/26 edition of our Concussion Update newsletter; please consider subscribing.

A recent article from The Conversation explored how AI could support doctors and other healthcare professionals throughout the concussion management process. According to authors Danny William Walmsley and Damian Bailey, the possible future use of artificial intelligence (AI) could improve concussion detection, treatment, and management of return-to-sport decisions. Concussions are difficult to diagnose, as symptoms vary between athletes and severity depends on many factors, such as physiology and concussion history. The authors suggest that AI might allow doctors to integrate more individualized objective data into their assessments and decisions. However, they caution that AI has risks, including hallucinations, incorrect analysis, and bias.

AI could help doctors create more personalized recovery plans by combining information from both subjective questioning and clinical tests. For example, “An independent AI model, drawing on a range of data from brain scans and blood tests to surveys of an athlete’s mood, could provide medical staff with a solid foundation of objective evidence” to determine when the athlete can safely return to play. The goal would be to help reduce pressure from athletes, coaches, and teams to return too quickly. 

Another example includes the possibility of AI turning “data from wearable sensors in helmets and gumshields… into maps of the brain’s injuries.” Repeated head impacts can cause long-term brain damage, so this type of mapping could be important for athletes.

However, the article emphasizes that AI also presents risks. AI systems can produce false information or incorrectly identify an injury as low-risk, potentially leading to an athlete returning to play too soon. AI can also be skewed due tolimited and biased data used to train it, meaning systems may be less accurate for groups such as women, children, and amateur athletes. There are also concerns about who controls athletes’ medical data.

Combining AI systems with a professional's medical knowledge could help support many athletes, but AI lacks the critical thinking and outside factors that humans can consider. The authors note that “...leaning too heavily on AI as a shortcut will dampen genuine curiosity and creativity.” With transparent systems, diverse data, and proper safeguards, AI could become a useful tool for improving concussion care and protecting athletes’ long-term brain health.