Concussion's Repercussions
Would you allow your child to engage in an activity that could affect his/her long term health? Every year millions of High School athletes take suit up to play a sport, 5-10% percent of which will suffer from a concussion at one point in their career (Strickland). Football is the front-runner for sports related concussions in males, reported in 2012 by the National Academy of Sciences. 11 out of every 10,000 football players suffered from a concussion. The passion for "America's Sport" is fueled by the jaw dropping hits athletes lay on one another, but as athletes are becoming stronger the force of these hits are growing exponentially along with the rates of concussions. Although we can work on bettering equipment in an attempt to reduce concussions they will always be prevalent as long as contact sports exist. This is why the focus must be shifted towards minimizing damage rather than prevention due to the devastating effects re-injury can cause to your brain if not given the proper time to recover. A study conducted from ninety-four concussed high school athletes showed that 71% suffered from an additional concussion in the same season while 39% of those athletes were playing with continuing symptoms (Cifu). This can lead to Secondary Impact Syndrome which has deadly repercussions. In order to prevent re-injury after sustaining the initial concussion the use of cognitive testing should be used with caution and a mandatory wait period before returning to play must be implemented.
Cognitive testing, a popular method of determining the severity of a concussion used in high schools around the country should no longer be used as the sole factor for determining when an athlete is ready to return to play. Alex Taylor, a neuropsychologist stated "It is not a red-light, green-light test," he goes even farther to say "That is where people get sidetracked. It does not determine who is completely recovered. It is one of the tools for doing that." (qtd. in Pennington). Also there are dangers that come along with administering such baseline tests following a serious concussion. Cognitive testing is actually known to exacerbate symptoms. In addition, high school baseline tests are simply not thorough enough. The most commonly used baseline test in high schools, ImPACT testing, takes as little as 20 minutes to complete (FAQ). With so many variables being able to effect your score on this predominantly attention based test on any given day, it seems highly unlikely that these baseline tests make an accurate assessment. Lack of sleep, not eating breakfast, or even a noisy test taking environment are all factors that would lead one to question the validity of imPACT testing. An off test score could be calamitous;letting an athlete return early possibly resulting in permanent damage. Being that baseline tests are so commonly misused in assessing an athlete, we must reduce our dependency on them while utilizing other methods of assessment.
With no proven way to determine when an athlete is completely clear, a mandatory wait period before returning to play must be implemented. Concussions are usually categorized on a scale from one (mild) to three (severe). In most cases, if an athlete sustains a concussion of two or lower they are permitted to return to play in a week. Ironically, the normal time in between games in football is a week. It is apparent that the sport may influence the return time in order for coaches to get their star players back in the lineup (Mcclincy). A study from a sample of concussed collegiate and high school athletes shows that the average time it takes for all neurocognitive deficits to subside is fourteen days. Double of what the recommended recovery time is set by the American Academy of Neurology. Forty states and Washington D.C have enacted youth concussion laws where any player experiencing concussion like symptoms must be immediately removed from the game. Most of the states require a twenty four hour wait period before returning to play (Harvey). Although these laws are better than nothing, these laws are simply not substantial enough. The study also determined that there is no correlation between the grade of the concussion and recovery time (Mcclincy). For this is the reason why the grading system should no longer be used. Being that the extent of a concussion is very hard to determine, each concussion should be presumed to be the worst, the athlete being handed a mandatory wait period. Now of course athletes might argue with such regulations but if doctors work with parents and athletes to achieve an understanding of the serious backlash that repetitive concussions can have on the body there should be no further issues.
Concussions will always be a factor in sports but if the proper precautions are taken the damage can be minimal. With concussions treated in emergency rooms rising from 150,000 in 2001 to 250,000 in 2009 it is obvious that new guidelines for return to play must be implemented to protect this high number of concussed athletes (Heitz). More importantly athletes brain's must have time to recover from the initial concussion. Chronic Headaches, learning disabilities, and even permanent brain damage are life-long sentences that come along with repetitive head trauma. At the end of the day the question must be asked, what is more important, long term health or playing in a relatively insignificant football game?
Works Cited
Cifu, David. "Repetitive Head Injury Syndrome ." Repetitive Head Injury Syndrome. N.p., 25 Apr. 2012. Web. 09 Jan. 2014.
"FAQ - ImPACT Baseline Testing." Houston Methodist Leading Medicine. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Jan. 2013.
Feature, Gina ShawWebMD. "Football Players and Concussions: Prevention, Effects, and More." WebMD. WebMD, 28 Jan. 2013. Web. 15 Dec. 2013.
Harvey, Hosea H. "Reducing Traumatic Brain Injuries in Youth Sports." SIRS Discoverer. ProQuest, July 2013. Web. 1 Jan. 2014.
Heitz, David. "Dangerous Concussions on the Rise in Youth Sports." Healthlines RSS News. N.p., 21 Nov. 2013. Web. 10 Jan. 2014.
Mcclincy, Michael P. Recovery From Sports Concussions in High School and Collegiate Athletes. United Kingdom: Taylor&Francis, Jan. 2006. PDF.
Pennington, Bill. "A New Way To Care For Young Brains." SIRS Discoverer. ProQuest, 6 May 2013. Web. 19 Dec. 2013.
Strickland, Tony L. "Sports Concussion Institute | Excellence in Concussion Management & Treatment." Sports Concussion Institute | Excellence in Concussion Management & Treatment. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Dec. 2013.
|, Tom Farrey. "Preps at Greater Concussion risk." ESPN. ESPN Internet Ventures, 31 Oct. 2013. Web. 06 Jan. 2014.
