Utica, N.Y. - High-risk sports returning means more risk for injury such as concussions.

The coronavirus has been a threat to student-athletes over the past year, but as they start to make their return to the playing field another health threat being discussed again are concussions.

Now, member companies of the Utica National Insurance Group will now offer concussion management at no additional charge to all of their school policy holders through imPACT Applications.

ImPACT Applications is a leading concussion management software company servicing student-athletes nationwide and professionals like the NFL.

“We really do feel strongly about keeping students and staff safe,” said Brian Saville, Resident Senior Vice President Educational Institutions Unit. “We don’t want anyone getting hurt from a concussion and coming back too soon and suffering some kind of irreparable damage. We want to make sure that we’re working with the schools and keeping it as safe as possible.”

They will now provide baseline concussion testing and a post-cognitive testing as part of the return to play and return to class process.

Due to the pandemic, imPACT is also offering virtual baseline testing.

“Because they work closely with the FDA and the Health Departments, they actually can do them out of their homes,” said Saville. “The post-test if they'd had a concussion would then be done through a medical provider. New York State has been a leader in this they've had protocols in place for over a decade and we work with schools to help them implement the state requirements and protocols.”

According to data from by the National High School Sports-Related Injury Surveillance Study from 2013-14 and 2017-18 the three sports with the highest concussion rates were football, girls soccer and boys ice hockey.