CHARLESTON — New regulations designed to protect student athletes from sports-related concussions are expected to take the guesswork out of whether players should be required to sit out the rest of the game.

The Secondary School Activities Commission regulation requires that athletes suspected of suffering a head injury be evaluated immediately by a health professional. Concussions previously were treated as general injuries where athletes were removed from the field and often allowed to return to play, said commission Executive Director Gary Ray.

The regulation follows guidelines the National Federation of State High School Associations approved earlier this year. The guidelines say athletes who show concussion symptoms such as headaches, dizziness, confusion or balance problems must be immediately removed from competition.

Previous federation rules for most sports required officials to remove athletes from play if they were unconscious or apparently unconscious.

The commission’s new protocol is designed to keep athletes from returning to the field prematurely, Ray said. Before they can resume play, they must be reviewed by a health professional. The SSAC defines a health care professional as a medical doctor, osteopath, chiropractor, registered nurse practitioner, physician’s assistant or registered certified athletic trainer.

If none are available, the athlete cannot return to competition, Ray said.

Earlier this year, Morgantown physician Richard Vaglienti, a member of the SSAC’s sports medicine committee, arranged a workshop with a group of Morgantown doctors. Among the group was Dr. Julian Bailes, co-director of West Virginia University’s Brain Injury Research Institute.

The workshop was aimed at educating coaches, athletic officials and trainers in how to deal with sports-related concussions, including avoiding helmet-to-helmet contact in football. Doctors also stressed the importance of keeping an athlete inactive following a concussion, even from classwork.

“The rest isn’t just physical. It’s mental,” said Kelly Geddis, an SSAC assistant executive director. “A kid who gets hurt on Friday shouldn’t have to return to school on Monday and take a chemistry test.

“It does make sense, but we weren’t aware of it. A kid who’s been hurt shouldn’t have to tax their brain until it has time to heal.”

WVU’s Center for Excellence in Disabilities collaborated with the SSAC to produce sideline cards and posters to help coaches and families identify the warning signs of concussions. Workshop attendees also learned that athletes who return from a concussion prematurely and later suffer another blow to the head could see devastating results.

“Most of the kids who die from trauma head injury, many of those are from a second impact,” Geddis said.

What might reduce that potential risk can be found on the computer.

ImPACT Applications Inc., a Pittsburgh-based developer of neuro-cognitive testing, showed SSAC officials how to use the company’s software to tests athletes’ memories, among other things. The program already is used by the NFL, NHL, Major League Baseball, NBA teams and universities across the country.

Chief marketing officer Labiba Russo said ImPACT charges $500 for each school per year. Athletes are tested at the beginning of the season and would undergo a second test after a suspected concussion.

“You’re really doing a physical of the brain and see what changes have been made” from the earlier test, Russo said. “Obviously this test doesn’t tell you everything you need to know about the injury. You need to look at the athlete and look at their symptoms. It’s one tool in the toolbox. We always want a doctor involved.”

According to the company’s website, 10 high schools have signed up. Ray said those schools are clustered in the Wheeling, Morgantown and the Eastern Panhandle in collaboration with hospitals.

“It’s been invaluable to us as athletic trainers,” said Matt Wink, Musselman High School’s head trainer.

Wink said the test involves different areas of the brain, including reaction, memorization, shape recognition and counting backward. Athletes are gauged both on how fast and how well they process the test.

One of Musselman’s football players who recently suffered a concussion had undergone the ImPACT testing before and was tested again after the injury to compare the results.

The post-concussion test score lagged far behind his initial one. He’ll remain on the sidelines and be retested in another week, Wink said.

“I would hope that (the testing) would get to everybody,” Wink said. “It’s the next best thing for us to know what’s going on in a kid’s brain. That young man was a prime example. We thought he was OK. The number one thing is all his symptoms have to be gone.”