The following series of articles from the Newark Star-Ledger reveals some shocking details regarding the dangers that concussions and head trauma presents to young athletes. The risks are far different than those that are presented to professional athletes.
It is apparent that parents, coaches and players in many sports are taking injuries too lightly. The lack of knowledge of the dangers of bringing players back to play TOO EARLY cannot be allowed to continue. The "rush back to play" phenomena is clearly DANGEROUS to the athletes long-term health.
It is important to change this mind-set because there are currently around 400,000 concussions occurring nationwide during school sports each year in sports and activities ranging from football to cheer leading.
As the second article in the series highlights, cheer leading accounts for 65% of all catastrophic sports injuries to female athletes during the last 25 years. In youth sports, the trend seems to be that injuries in cheer leading may be starting to out pace player injuries.
New Jersey High School Sports Extra
Kids and Concussions: Our 3-part series on the effects of head injuries in young athletes
By Star-Ledger Staff
January 06, 2010, 11:14AM
By Matthew Stanmyre and Jackie Friedman/The Star-Ledger
http://blog.nj.com/hssportsextra/2010/01/kids_and_concussions_our_3-par.html
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The parents dilemma:
- Parents and players face pressure to rush back to play too early so they do not lose playing time or "fall behind" other players.
The coach's dilemma:
- Coaches face pressures to bring key players back too early as a result of the shot-term pressure to win overriding the concern for the players long-term health consequences. Some coaches simply do not have the knowledge of the severity of the injury and states (see NY example below) are taking action to see that coaches are better educated.
The players dilemma:
- Players face peer pressure as a result of other teammates playing through pain or other types of injuries. The "warrior mentality" that is prevalent in professional sports leaks down to the lower level athlete. They want to emulate the attitude they see on promoted T.V. and in sports lore.
Players are also influenced indirectly by the pressures that their parents and coaches are feeling. This "triple play" of emotions creates a vortex that in many cases pulls players back into play too early and causes them to hide or mask symptoms that would cause them to be pulled from playing in games or practices.
Make no mistake; a concussion is no routine injury. It is not the same as an ankle sprain or a sore knee. And it is not just a bump on the head.
A concussion is actually a MILD TO SEVERE BRAIN INJURY.
It includes damage to the BRAIN which = BRAIN DAMAGE.
Some health experts believe we should change the terminology to describe these injuries to emphasize the elevated severity of the injury. We often hear parent say they are relieved to hear their child has "only" suffered a concussion. Well, what's worse?
Reasons why "rush to play" is a dangerous practice:
- Athletes that return too early after a concussion at increased risk of another head injury. The so-called "second impact syndrome". Athletes are twice as likely to have another head injury within a year if they have already had one, according to Dr. Carol DeMatteo who is the associate clinical professor at the School of Rehabilitation Science at McMaster University.
- Athletes should see and be cleared to play by a doctor before returning to play. Especially if symptoms like headache, fatigue, memory problems, change in sleep pattern or mood changes persist after the injury. If an athlete exhibits signs or symptoms of a concussion during the game, they should be pulled and not allowed to return during that same game.
- These symptoms can affect school performance as well as sports performance.
- Having multiple head injuries increases the odds of doing PERMANENT damage to the brain.
It is becoming clearer that concussions are cumulative and the trauma and damage increases the severity of successive injuries.
The "second impact syndrome":
According to the Star-Ledger article, studies show that the most severe concussions occur when the athlete returns to play while still experiencing symptoms from an earlier concussion.
The second impact syndrome has led to approximately 30 to 40 deaths in the last decade.
Hopefully, all the media attention of the severity of concussions in the NFL this season as well as some of the research on the damage ex-NFL players have suffered will change the climate.
Fortunately, some schools are following the model that some NFL teams and doctors use to clear players by employing pre-injury baseline testing of cognitive abilities. Then, when the players are injured, medical personnel are better able to re-test the player in order to determine proper recovery. However, the testing equipment is expensive.
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This organization has some free downloads that include sideline cards for coaches with good information regarding concussion symptoms.
http://www.keepyourheadinthegame.org/
NEW YORK STATE ATHLETIC ADMINIISTRATORS ASSOCIATION AND NEW YORK STATE PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION CONCUSSION MANAGEMENT IN INTERSCHOLASTIC ATHLETICS
MISSION SATEMENT
The New York State Athletic Administrators Association and the New York State Public High School Athletic Association have partnered to educate interscholastic athletic personnel, secondary school athletes, parents of the athletes, school nurses and school physicians in current sport concussion management policies and procedures. Recognizing the concussed athlete, applying the guidelines for appropriate response, understanding the dangers of inappropriate actions and following correct protocols for return to school and athletic participation will be outcomes of the educational process. As a result, the number of New York State scholastic athletes suffering from “post concussion syndrome” or “secondary impact syndrome” will significantly decrease.
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