If an adult experiences an acute, sudden onset of chest pain, most people would say that the decision about whether that person had or is having a heart attack should be made by a doctor, that if you suspect something serious is going on, the person should get checked out right away by a medical professional. No smartphone app or test can - or should - take the doctor's place.

The same is true for concussions, say the experts.

If a parent, coach, or game official has reason to suspect that a player has suffered a concussion playing sports, the athlete should be checked out right away by a medical professional.

No matter what anyone may tell you, no smartphone app or sideline test can put a parent or a coach in a position to diagnose a concussion or determine on the sideline that it somehow safe for an athlete to return to play.

That job can ONLY be done by a licensed medical provider.

End of story.

The ability of teens, and, in the case of younger athletes, their parents, to accurately recall the severity of symptoms experienced before after a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) injury is subject to a "good old days" bias and declines dramatically over time, says a new study, which suggests that using symptom ratings of pre-injury functioning obtained as soon as possible after injury might result in a 5 to 7-fold improvement in a clinician's identification of patients who have clinically recovered from concussion.