Posted: December 11, 2015 | Author: admin | Filed under: Concussions, High School, Lawsuit, Player Safety | Tags: Concussions, high school sports, player safety, Safety Tag |
By JASON CATO
Many of Pennsylvania’s 350,000 junior and senior high school athletes likely have experienced severe concussions and the kind of lingering effects three Lawrence County high school athletes had to endure, according to a class-action lawsuit claiming negligence against the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association.
Two former student athletes at Neshannock High School and the father of a senior at Ellwood City sued the PIAA in Lawrence County Common Pleas Court late Thursday alleging the governing body did little to protect them from or help them with concussions suffered while playing high school sports.
The lawsuit seeks unspecified monetary damages on behalf of Jonathan Hites and Kaela Zingaro, both New Castle residents and 2014 Neshannock graduates, and Domenic Teolis, 17, of Ellwood City.
The head of the state’s governing body over school sports vowed to fight the allegations vigorously, and one legal expert said the PIAA will prevail.
“This lawsuit will lose,” said Hosea Harvey, a Temple University law school professor with expertise in youth sports law. “They are actually undermining the issue of student safety in Pennsylvania.”
Neither Hites nor Zingaro nor their families could be reached for comment. Samuel Teolis, listed as a plaintiff because his son is a minor, declined to comment.
Attorneys for a Texas-based law firm that specializes in class-action lawsuits and which is heading up the litigation against the PIAA did not respond to numerous messages from the Tribune-Review.
Bob Lombardi, the PIAA’s executive director since 1988, said he was blindsided by the lawsuit in light of the measures the organization has implemented in recent years regarding player safety and concussions.
“This blows my mind,” Lombardi said. “All of our schools try to take care of the health of our athletes. I think we have been very responsive in asking our member schools to follow protocols.”
RULES IN PLACE
Since 2009, all 50 states passed laws regarding concussions in youth athletes. Pennsylvania in 2012 enacted its Youth in Sports Safety Act, which outlines responsibilities of schools and coaches.
“We have to have a player removed and evaluated by someone who is trained in the management, care and treatment of concussions. That’s the extent of the law,” said Larry Cooper, head athletic trainer at Penn-Trafford High School and chairman of the National Athletic Trainers’ Association Secondary School Athletic Trainers’ Committee.
Many schools go beyond that requirement, implementing preseason baseline assessments for concussions and installing more stringent concussion protocols with the help of brain injury specialists.
“The PIAA was in the forefront, not lagging behind, to try to get something in place as a student safety initiative,” Cooper said. “You have to applaud them for doing that.”
The lawsuit, which alleges negligence before and after Pennsylvania passed its law, describes in detail concussion injuries suffered by the plaintiffs and the failure of coaches and others to recognize and deal with symptoms. No schools or coaches are named in the lawsuit.
Hites suffered a severe concussion in 2011 as a freshman attending a team football camp at Slippery Rock University. It took him more than a year to be medically cleared, but he still experiences learning and social difficulties, the lawsuit states.
Zingaro suffered a concussion in June 2014 while playing in a Neshannock High softball game. Doctors cleared her to return to play two months later, although her attorneys said she continued to experience headaches and trouble with concentration.
Domenic Teolis, now a senior at Ellwood City’s Lincoln High School, suffered multiple concussions in his freshman year during football practices and games, the lawsuit states.
After suffering a concussion in practice in October 2012, Teolis played the next day against Central Valley, his lawyers said. He reported concussive symptoms to a trainer and coaches, but nothing was done until his parents took him to Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC that night, the lawsuit states.
CLAIMS AGAINST PIAA
The lawsuit claims the PIAA violated state law by not:
• requiring concussion baseline tests;
• tracking and reporting concussions;
• requiring qualified medical personnel be present at all PIAA-sanctioned practices and events;
• removing athletes with apparent concussions from practices and games;
• taking measures to educate school personnel on how to provide proper medical response to suspected concussions; and
• providing resources for student-athletes in seeking professional medical care at the time of a concussion, during treatment or for post-injury monitoring.
“None of these are required under Pennsylvania law,” said Harvey, the Temple professor. “They just aren’t.”
In addition to paying for its alleged negligence, the lawsuit wants a court to order the PIAA to establish a medical monitoring trust fund to pay for ongoing and long-term expenses of student athletes and former student athletes.
PREVIOUS CASE DISMISSED
Lawyers filed a similar suit last year against the Illinois High School Association, making it the first prep sports governing body in the country to face a class-action concussion lawsuit.
A judge in October dismissed the case, saying the IHSA had worked to improve protections for student athletes and that imposing broader liability on the governing body could reduce participation in high school football or end the sport altogether.
Harvey said the lawsuit filed in Lawrence County “cuts and pastes” whole sections of the failed litigation filed in Illinois.
Instead of frivolously suing the PIAA, the plaintiffs should address their concerns to state lawmakers in an effort to improve Pennsylvania law, the professor said.
“The allegations of what happened are not frivolous, and the solutions aren’t frivolous,” Harvey said. “But these are best addressed through the Legislature.”
Source: Cato, Jason. “Lawsuit Alleges PIAA Failed to Protect Students from Concussions.” TribLIVE.com. N.p., 11 Dec. 2015. Web. 11 Dec. 2015.
Posted: December 7, 2015 | Author: admin | Filed under: Concussions, Player Safety, Youth Sports | Tags: Concussions, player safety, Safety Tag, Youth Sports |
Males who participate in amateur contact sports, such as high school football, are more susceptible to developing the degenerative brain disorder chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), according to a new student done by the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota.
The findings, published in the December issue of Acta Neuropathological, show that 32 percent of the males who had participated in contact sports growing up showed signs of CTE as chronicled by the Post-Bulletin in Rochester, Minn. Because CTE can only be identified after a person has died, the study was based on brains posthumously donated for research. Among the contact sports listed were “football, boxing, wrestling, rugby, basketball, baseball.”
The study is the first to look for CTE in non-professional athlete using diagnostic criteria from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, according to Dr. Dennis Dickson, the study’s author and a Mayo Clinic neuropathologist.
“(This) work is groundbreaking,” Dickson said in a news release. “The frequency with which (we) found CTE pathology in former athletes exposed to contact sports was surprising.”
The release said the 66 males who had participated in contact sports growing up, 32 percent showed CTE when the brain tissue was examined. None of the 198 brains examined from those who had not participated in contact sports in their youth showed CTE. That included the 66 women.
Said Kevin Bieniek, who led the research team: “The purpose of our study is not to discourage children and adults from participating in sports, because we believe the mental and physical health benefits are great. It is vital that people use caution when it comes to protecting the head. Through CTE awareness, greater emphasis will be placed on making contact sports safer, with better protective equipment and fewer head-to-head contacts.”
Source: “New Study Finds Evidence of Brain Injury in Men Who Participated in Contact Sports as Youths.” USA Today High School Sports. N.p., 07 Dec. 2015. Web. 07 Dec. 2015.
Posted: December 3, 2015 | Author: admin | Filed under: Concussions, Football, Player Safety, Youth Sports | Tags: Concussions, player safety, Safety Tag, youth football, Youth Sports |
By UZMA SAMADANI
I read with great interest the recent report on the call for elimination of football from high school argued by Drs. Stephen Miles and Shailendra Prasad (“U doctors call for no football in schools,” Nov. 22). They take issue with the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) position statement that tackle football should not be eliminated from youth sports. The AAP position statement instead proposes a series of measures to make football safer — including limiting contact practices, rule changes, improved protective equipment and neck strengthening, among others.
There are several reasons that the AAP statement is reasonable in arguing for continued contact sports, with efforts to render them as safe as possible.
The first reason is that it is impossible to legislate all risk-taking behaviors out of childhood and adolescence. The adolescent brain is not fully developed, and thus not as rigid in its signaling as the adult brain. It is still developing and is wildly creative compared with the more inhibited adult brain. Despite any legislation, children are biologically more impulsive, less restrained and more inclined to take risks.
Football is on the riskier end of the spectrum of sports, but still is less risky than skiing, snowboarding, skateboarding, equestrian sports or bicycling. If we are going to legislate all risk-taking behaviors in children, we should probably begin with those that are statistically most dangerous, rather than those in the middle.
Ultimately, if we do not let our children play football, they may choose to skateboard off the roof. This type of activity is what they are biologically programmed to do.
The second reason not to eliminate tackle football is that it is not entirely clear that elimination of risk-taking behaviors from childhood is in the interest of our society. With football, children learn to assess risk based not only on their own capabilities, but also on the capabilities of their teammates, who protect them and work for their mutual interests. This capacity for rapid risk assessment and plan execution, relying on teamwork and assessment of evolving challenges, may serve our children well in their later professional lives.
Without childhood risk, there might not be adult risk-taking behaviors — no astronauts, explorers, entrepreneurs, fire rescue personnel or surgeons, for example. Helicopter parenting and elimination of all risk may breed a generation of cowards unfit to face the challenges of the next century.
A third reason for the AAP position, clearly indicated in its statement, is that there is not substantive scientific evidence indicating that subconcussive or even concussive impacts in youth have deleterious long-term health effects. The vast majority of children will recover from a concussion without any adverse condition. The greatest risk factor for dementia in American society is vascular insufficiency due to hypertension, obesity and diabetes — all far more prevalent in children who do not exercise. Dementia is also more common in women, who are less likely to have played contact sports.
Within the spectrum of brain-injury-inducing activities contemplated by the developing and unpredictable minds of American youth, football represents an extremely tiny fraction of where risk actually resides. Focused efforts on elimination of football detract from the true preventable causes of brain injury — specifically, gun violence, motor vehicle collisions, and drug or alcohol abuse. Such efforts are also contrary to elimination of the greatest scourge to the health of our modern society — obesity due to inactivity.
The question we should be asking is not whether we should ban football, but how we can encourage more children to be active in the sport of their choice, played as safely as possible.
The AAP has it right — make football safer and get the kids out there playing. Children who want to play football should be encouraged, and those who do not should be counseled to seek alternative exercises that are hopefully at least as beneficial.
Uzma Samadani is Rockswold Kaplan Endowed Chair for Traumatic Brain Injury Research at Hennepin County Medical Center and an associate professor of neurosurgery at the University of Minnesota. She is the author of “The Football Decision — An exploration into every parent’s dilemma on whether or not to let a child play contact sports,” which will be published in January 2016.
Source: Samadani, Uzma. “Counterpoint: Call to Ban Football Collides with the Facts.” Star Tribune. N.p., 03 Dec. 2015. Web. 03 Dec. 2015.
Posted: November 30, 2015 | Author: admin | Filed under: Concussions, Football, Player Safety, Youth Sports | Tags: player safety, Safety Tag, Youth Sports, youth sports death |
By JASON SCOTT
Two youth football players — one a high school student from Kansas and the other in Ohio who was just 9 years old — died this week during football activities.
Luke Schemm, a 17-year old player at Wallace County High in Sharon Springs, Kan. Collapsed on the sideline after scoring on a two-point conversion play. He was airlifted to a Denver hospital, where he was declared brain dead. He was taken off life support late yesterday.
Referees reportedly didn’t see Schemm take contact to his head or neck. But David Schemm, Luke’s father, said that Luke had suffered brain trauma, which caused swelling and shut off blood flow.
Schemm was a standout athlete at Wallace County High. He started for four years on the school’s football team, played on a state championship basketball team, and a state ranked high jumper. He had plans to attend Kansas State University in the fall.
Wyatt Barber, the 9-year-old player, collapsed during a routine practice session. A preliminary autopsy revealed that he died of a heart issue.
Barber’s team was having a non-contact practice session when he fell to the ground.
“During the process of stopping and taking a break, the young man collapsed,” Meigs County Sheriff Keith Wood told WSAZ. “They started doing CPR on him immediately and contacted 911. When we got there, they were working on Wyatt and trying to get him revived, diligently trying.”
Barber was rushed to the emergency room, but was pronounced dead a short time later.
“To have a death like that is just a terrible thing to see happen,” Wood said. “We are a family here and we’re very closely connected in our community.”
Source: Scott, Jason. “Two More Deaths in Youth Football - Athletic Business.” Athletic Business. N.p., 15 Nov. 2015. Web. 15 Nov. 2015.
Posted: November 28, 2015 | Author: admin | Filed under: Concussions, Player Safety, Youth Sports | Tags: Concussions, player safety, Safety Tag, Youth Sports |
By VICKI HALL
BANFF, Alta. — Canada’s Sports Minister Carla Qualtrough says Rowan’s Law – a concussion bill named after a 17-year-old who died in Ottawa after being injured during a high school rugby game – is a step in the right direction.
Ontario MPP Lisa MacLeod tabled the bill in the Ontario legislature on Wednesday with rare all-party support. Second reading is scheduled for Dec. 10.
“I am keenly aware of the concerns being voiced across our sport system about our athletes’ health regarding the impact of concussions,” Qualtrough said in a news release Friday. “I share the desire for a responsible, coordinated approach to the treatment of concussions in order to ensure the safety of every athlete.”
Qualtrough’s comments come on the heels of a four-part Postmedia series that detailed Canada’s haphazard approach to concussion management. In this country, rules vary wildly from province to province or city to city — even in the same sport.
Source: Hall, VickI. “‘Concussions Are a Serious Issue throughout Our Sport System:’ Federal Government Throws Support behind Rowan’s Law.” National Post Concussions Are a Serious Issue throughout Our Sport System Federal Government Throws Support behind RowansLaw Comments. N.p., 28 Nov. 2015. Web. 28 Nov. 2015.
Posted: November 26, 2015 | Author: admin | Filed under: Concussions, Player Safety, Youth Sports | Tags: Concussions, player safety, Safety Tag, Youth Sports |
By VICKI HALL
In a special, four-part series, Postmedia News explores the issue of youth concussions: from the pressure felt by athletes to “power through” and take one for the team, to the need to balance safety against fear, to the patchwork of policies across the country that leaves young athletes at risk.
CALGARY — Concussion, the blockbuster movie of the holiday season, is billed as one man’s ‘David and Goliath’ fight against the NFL.
CALGARY — A mother’s intuition told Kelley Korbin her daughter was hiding the truth about the concussions she suffered as an up-and-coming skier on the B.C. moguls team.
But with her eyes trained on the next competition, Sophie McGregor refused to consider hanging up her boots to protect her brain.
“She was making light of it,” Korbin says from West Vancouver. “She didn’t have any big falls. She just had a few little hits of her head on the snow. By that point, it didn’t take much.”
Despite incapacitating headaches and persistent nausea, McGregor kept skiing over bumpy mogul fields. All the while, her mother gently probed and incessantly worried about a bright, bubbly girl who suddenly seemed anything but.
“I said I was fine, but I was forgetting entire days and living with serious headaches,” says McGregor, who admits to self-medicating with up to eight extra-strength Tylenols a day to manage the pain. “I definitely shouldn’t have been skiing, in retrospect. But at the time, I was like, ‘I can just power through this.’ My coach was being super-cautious and kept asking me how I was doing. But I just kept on lying.”
Dr. Bennet Omalu, played by Will Smith, is the Nigerian neuropathologist who discovers chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in football players. His discovery, and his fight to raise awareness, pitted him against the most powerful professional sports organization in the world.
The brains Omalu examines explains so many things. Like why Steelers great Mike Webster ended up sleeping in bus stations, blowing all his money after he retired — forgetting he ever had money — and using a taser to zap himself to sleep. Why Vikings linebacker Fred McNeill — so smart he began law school during his last NFL season — started to lose his memory in his early 40s and eventually would be fired from multiple jobs. Why Chicago Bears Pro Bowler Dave Duerson shot himself in the chest rather than in the head when he killed himself at 50, leaving a note that said: “I think something is seriously damaged in my brain. Please, see that my brain is given to the NFL’s brain bank.”
The potential reaction to the film scares Dr. Pierre Fremont, chair of the Canadian Concussion Collaborative, an umbrella organization that includes the Canadian Medical Association and the Canadian Paediatric Society.
“I fear it’s going to create another huge wave of fear,” says Fremont, past-president of the Canadian Academy of Sport and Exercise Medicine. “People who have kids playing football might think, ‘My kid plays football and had two concussions in three years that were properly managed, so he’s going to die after going crazy in 20 years.’”
He worries panicked moms and dads will pull their kids out of sports such as hockey, football and soccer to save them from the ravages of CTE — and that this, in turn, will lead to a generation of inactive, overweight children.
When concussions are properly managed, Fremont says, there is usually no cause for long-term concern. CTE is a late complication of multiple improperly managed concussions.
But given a 2014 poll released by the collaborative suggests 59 per cent of sports organizations in the country don’t have a concussion protocol in place, fear is understandable.
Fremont sees the film as a warning to Canada, a message that it’s on the clock to ensure every sports organization in the country — from AAA Midget hockey in Quebec to the local skiing club offering lessons on a bunny hill in Edmonton — has a mandatory concussion protocol that is reviewed annually. This needs to be done quickly and it needs to be done correctly, he says, learning from other jurisdictions like the U.S.
Without that, he worries not only about the kids who continue to play sports, but about those who won’t.
“We need to do something about concussions before fear destroys sport participation in kids,” he says. “Only a minority of kids will be excited about golf or swimming laps in the pool. They want to play on sports teams; they want to compete against other kids. We want kids to be active instead of gaming or getting fat. It’s so important for their health, so they don’t develop chronic disease.”
No one would ever send their child on to a football field or hockey rink without a helmet. A concussion protocol — or a detailed plan outlining the steps to safely return to school or sport — is every bit as essential.
Studies show concussions are three to six times more likely to be detected in an environment with a protocol in place, Fremont says. Further, an estimated 80 to 90 per cent of concussions resolve totally within seven to 10 days — or sometimes longer, in the case of children and teenagers — so long as the brain is given proper time to rest, according to the 2012 Zurich Consensus Statement on Concussions.
Without protocols in place, concussions are more likely to be missed.
“We’re missing a huge amount of minor concussions that most of the time will, by luck, resolve without consequences,” Fremont says. “But a few of those are those kids who will get a second hit that will constitute a very bad episode of concussion that could have been prevented by early detection. That’s what needs to change.”
A mandatory concussion protocol was among the 49 recommendations of a coroner’s inquest into the death of Rowan Stringer, a 17-year-old Ottawa girl who died after back-to-back concussions sustained while playing high school rugby in 2013.
A youth concussion bill prompted by that inquest was introduced Wednesday in Ontario’s provincial parliament. The bill calls for a committee to develop an action plan based on those recommendations. They have one year to report. In Quebec, a working group on sports-related concussions was struck in early 2014. Although the group has submitted a report to the Minister of Sports, Education and Leisure, recommendations have yet to be made public. In B.C., Moira Stilwell introduced a private member’s bill in 2011 calling for youth concussion legislation, but it died on the table. She hopes to introduce a similar bill again.
Federally, Sport Canada has formed a working group on concussions and head injuries, with representatives from federal, provincial and territorial governments. Asked about a deadline for a report, a spokesperson said “this information will be made available in due time.”
Sport Canada also is working with the provinces and national sport organizations to create educational tools such as seminars and workshops for coaches, trainers, administrators and parents.
“The harmonization of educational initiatives and management protocol tools are the top priorities,” spokesman Roger Maalouf wrote in a statement to Postmedia. “Education and community-level awareness are vital to prevent injury on the playing field.”
Further, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has asked Sport Minister Carla Qualtrough to work with her health counterparts on a national strategy to raise awareness for parents, coaches and athletes on concussion treatment.
In the meantime, sports organizations across the country are governed by a patchwork of policies — or none at all. In 2014, the Canadian Concussion Collaborative released a poll of 44 national and provincial organizations that represent concussion-prone sports. Of those surveyed, just 41 per cent had concussion management protocols in place. Rules vary wildly from province to province or city to city — even in the same sport.
The Saskatchewan Soccer Association, for example, introduced a detailed concussion policy in 2013. One province over, the Manitoba Soccer Association said in October that it is still hammering one out. In B.C., the provincial association says it’s finalizing a formal concussion protocol but warns, even when it’s adopted, enforcement will trickle down to youth districts and, ultimately, coaches, parents and officials. There’s just no way for an organization based in Vancouver to police concussion management in soccer leagues from Fort St. John to Cranbrook to Tofino.
“It’s trying to work with our membership to create something they can then monitor,” said spokesman Peter Lonergan. “With the province being so big, that is our challenge. We’d be lying if we said we could be at every game, every weekend.”
At the national level:
• Hockey Canada has a comprehensive concussion policy — available digitally — that details a six-step protocol for players with a suspected concussion. The policy calls for at least one official on each team to take an online player-safety course that teaches, among other things, the rules for handling possible head, neck or spinal-cord injuries. The policy is national in scope, but day-to-day enforcement lies with the provincial branches and local minor hockey associations. “If everybody respects the rules, it’s a really safe game to play,” says Todd Jackson, senior manager of safety and insurance for Hockey Canada.
• Snowboard Canada’s concussion policy goes a step further, requiring all athletes 15 and older to undergo baseline neurological testing before the start of training every season.
• Curling Canada is in the process of developing a concussion protocol that is slated for presentation at the association’s AGM next summer. Brad Gushue, the 2006 Olympic gold medallist, cracked his head on the ice in the fourth end of a game last month. He went to hospital, received seven stitches, and returned to action in the seventh end. The next day, he woke up with concussion-like symptoms.
• When asked if it has a concussion policy, the Canadian Lacrosse Association said in a written statement it is in the process of reviewing concussion protocols given recent research on the topic. It refused to specify whether a current policy exists.
• Rugby Canada follows the “Recognize and Remove” policy launched by World Rugby in January 2014. “If there’s a suspicion of a concussion, the player is removed and we ask questions later,” says Dustin Hopkins, manager of national development for Rugby Canada. “It’s not a matter of trying to make a diagnosis around the field.” Medical clearance is required for a player to return to action.
• Ringette Canada hopes to have a concussion policy — complete with a return-to-play protocol — approved at the next face-to-face meeting of the board in January. In the meantime, the national federation is encouraging coaches to take an online course and follow the concussion protocol found on the Parachute Canada website. “It’s not like we’re just sitting here going, ‘Our policy is not in place at this point,’” says Natasha Johnston, executive director of Ringette Canada. “We recognize the importance of the issue.”
The United States is far ahead of Canada when it comes to concussion protocols. All 50 states have enacted concussion laws outlining the steps that must be taken when a young athlete suffers a head injury. The legislation protects the respective governments from massive lawsuits — common south of the border — should a young athlete die from repeated concussions.
But is legislation the way to go? Should Canada be following the American lead?
Proponents of Rowan’s Law say such legislation will protect all young athletes by forcing sports federations, leagues and teams to enact formal concussion protocols that educate participants and mandate the steps to return to play.
But Fremont isn’t so sure. In terms of protecting children, he says the results are muddy at best. No one is policing sports teams to ensure athletes and parents are educated about the dangers of concussions. No one is inspecting the files to ensure every concussed participant presents a doctor’s note before returning to game action.
“In every state, the literature is starting to show that it’s very nice to have that (law) — it’s been useful to increase the awareness by coaches — but not so much athletes and parents,” Fremont says. “The bottom line is they have no way to implement it. Before we too rapidly decide to implement similar laws in Canada, we should at least ask the question, carefully look at the literature from the American experience, and decide if we want to duplicate or innovate.”
Fremont, for one, prefers a distinctly Canadian approach.
Provincial education ministries could enact policies to cover concussions suffered at school. Currently, Ontario is the only province in the country to have such a law in place. Enacted in 2015 following the death of Rowan Stringer, it applies only to students injured while playing for a school team.
National sports organizations could introduce similar rules and require all their members to follow them. The respective governments could make approved concussion management protocols a condition of funding.
All sides agree: Education is essential to prevent another tragedy.
“It’s time to go back to the earliest level of sport, grassroots, where daddy is the coach on Saturday morning,” Fremont says. “That’s where it starts.”
The main goal of every concussion policy should be to educate kids, parents, coaches and teachers about the signs, symptoms and potential severity of concussions and leave the decision-making to physicians, preferably those with training in traumatic brain injury,” says Dr. Michael Ellis, medical director of Winnipeg’s Pan Am Concussion Centre.
In Manitoba, Ellis is a vocal advocate of standardized concussion protocols in and out of school to protect young athletes across the province, regardless of what sport they play.
“I don’t think parents or coaches should ever feel like they have to be doctors,” he says. “Parents, teachers, coaches — this is not a responsibility that should be put on their shoulders. The only thing they should be expected to do is if they worry about or suspect a concussion, they have to pull the trigger on getting the kid out of the game, and hopefully the concussion protocol will take care of the rest.”
Without firm policies in place, emotions can override reason. Just as youth often choose to keep playing, coaches can feel conflicted when their star player goes down in a big game. Parents can urge their children to play through an injury for a chance at a championship or individual glory.
“I’ve had parents come in to the clinic who have confidence in what we tell them and ensure that their child takes all the necessary steps to return to their sport safely,” says Siobhan Karam, a physiotherapist at Toronto’s Sports Medicine Specialists clinic who has experience in concussion therapy.
“But I’ve also treated athletes with complex and repeat concussions, with very visible symptoms, and their parents will insist that their child is just fine. Even the worst concussions possible, and it’s the kid’s seventh concussion, and the parent is like, ‘Oh no, he’s fine.’ And the kid is about to throw up, and his eye function is completely off.”
To protect kids and teenagers, Ellis says, any concussion protocol must include mandatory medical clearance before young athletes can return to sport.
Until Canada comes to a point where all sports have concussion protocols in place, Dr. Charles Tator advises parents to be cautious.
“There are still lots of positives to be taken from team sport,” says Tator, a neurosurgeon at the Krembil Neuroscience Centre of Toronto Western Hospital. “I’m not in favour of parents withdrawing, but I do encourage parents to be very vigilant. You can’t drop off your kid and leave, and you can’t allow the coach to preach violence and aggression. That is up to the parents to prevent. Parents have to be vocal, they have to be there, they have to be watchful, and they have to realize their kids’ safety is in the hands of the coach.”
As much as Fremont would hate to see parents pull their kids out of contact sports after watching the movie Concussion, he says they should walk away from any league without a protocol in place.
“They should ask, ‘Did you establish a good understanding of concussion within your organization? Can I trust if my kid has a concussion that it will be detected early and managed properly? Do you have a protocol?,” he says.
“If they don’t, parents should not have their kids involved in an environment with a high risk of concussion and no plan. Kids should not play contact football on a football team that does not have a concussion management protocol. It makes no sense.”
Source: Hall, Vicki. “Head Shots: Concussion Policy Needed to Protect Kids Who Play Sports - and Those Who Are Afraid to.” National Post Head Shots Concussion Policy Needed to Protect Kids Who Play Sports and Those Who Are Afraidto Comments. N.p., 26 Nov. 2015. Web. 26 Nov. 2015.
Posted: November 25, 2015 | Author: admin | Filed under: Concussions, Dehydration, Football, Heat Stroke, Player Safety, Youth Sports | Tags: Concussions, player safety, Safety Tag, youth football, Youth Sports |
By DR DAVID GEIER
Tyrell Cameron. Ben Hamm. Evan Murray. Kenney Bui. Rod Williams. Cam’ron Matthews. Andre Smith. Luke Schemm.
These are all young athletes who have died this season playing high school football.
Deaths in a sport can be classified as either direct or indirect fatalities. Direct fatalities are those that result from football itself, such as a player suffering a broken neck tackling an opponent. Indirect deaths result from exertion while playing. Examples include heat stroke and cardiac deaths.
From available media reports, it appears that most of the young athletes listed above died from events directly caused by football. They died from brain injuries, cervical spine injuries or a lacerated spleen.
If these reports are accurate, then at least six of the deaths this fall are directly related to high school football. Add these to the eight deaths in 2013 and five in 2014, and this three-year period marks the highest total since 1986-1988, according to Jason Lisk of The Big Lead.
Whether or not this recent spike in fatalities is part of a trend or just an aberration remains to be seen.
Dr. Frederick Mueller, the former director of the National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research, explained to me that in the 1960s and early 1970s, 25 to 30 athletes died each year as a result of head and neck injuries. In 1976, football banned spear tackling, which involved leading with the head or helmet. That change helped to dramatically cut fatalities in the sport.
According to data from the NCCSIR, 26 high school football players suffered deaths directly related to the sport between 2003 and 2012, or about three per year. Nineteen direct fatalities have occurred from 2013 through the end of the 2015 season, which appears to be a significant increase. It’s possible, however, that increased media coverage and the proliferation of social media has helped to publicize deaths we might never have heard about in the past.
While it’s hard to conclude that deaths in high school football are becoming more common, it is clear that we aren’t making much headway in preventing them either.
Part of the problem could be the evolution of the sport at the high school level and the athletes who play it. Kids start playing competitively at a much younger age, so the high school game is played at a higher level than ever. Plus the athletes are bigger, faster and stronger and deliver hits with more force than they did decades ago.
More worrisome, though, are the deaths indirectly related to football. There were 62 indirect fatalities between 2008 and 2014, according to NCCSIR data. Most deaths from heat stroke, sickling in athletes with sickle cell trait and heart issues can be prevented with rapid and appropriate medical response in the first few minutes. Yet these deaths seem to be rising.
I don’t present these statistics to scare anyone. The simple fact is that kids die playing football.
You might look at that number — six deaths directly caused by football this year — and think that it isn’t many when 1.1 million kids play high school football. Or you might be a parent who decides it is far too high.
We need more research on high school football deaths and new strategies to prevent them. Would creating more protective helmets make a difference? Would teaching proper tackling techniques help? Yes, we need those efforts and much, much more. But the last 40 years have shown us that we aren’t making much progress.
Football is more popular than ever, and kids want to play. Parents will have to decide if six deaths a year is an acceptable risk for their children.
Dr. David Geier is an orthopaedic surgeon in Charleston. For more information about football injuries and other sports medicine topics, go to drdavidgeier.com.
Source: Geier, David. “Are Deaths Increasing in High School Football?” Post and Courier. N.p., 25 Nov. 2015. Web. 25 Nov. 2015.
Posted: November 23, 2015 | Author: admin | Filed under: Concussions, Football, Player Safety | Tags: Concussions, football, player safety, Safety Tag, Youth Sports |
By: MATT WALL
Luke Falk lay staring onto the field, unable to move or stand up after his head slammed onto the field. Paramedics rushed on and carted the quarterback off on a stretcher.
The Washington State quarterback suffered a serious looking head injury, but gave the crowd a thumbs up before exiting the field.
Saturday was not a good day in the sport of college football for head injuries, especially to quarterbacks. In fact, it’s been happening a lot this season.
Oklahoma starter Baker Mayfield suffered an apparent head injury against TCU in the second quarter Saturday. TCU linebacker Ty Summers was flagged for targeting and later ejected for the hit. Mayfield did not return.
Syracuse quarterback Eric Dungey was out this weekend with a head injury that he suffered three weeks ago.
For Arizona fans, they know this story all too well. Starting quarterback Anu Solomon has sat out three games over the season because of concussion symptoms. Solomon’s two head injuries occurred from the sophomore attempting to slide face first to avoid opposing defenders.
Arizona receiver Samajie Grant sustained a head injury during the opening play in the Territorial Cup on Saturday and sat out for the remainder of the game.
We haven’t even discussed all the professional football players in the NFL who have travelled the same path. To name a couple: Minnesota Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater and Arizona Cardinals guard Mike Iupati.
Concussions are nothing new in the NFL or in college football. However, this football season has been one of significant injuries to top players.
Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, also known as CTE, has gained national attention over the years due to the numerous former football players who have suffered from the disease.
While increased rules have been implemented to protect player safety, it doesn’t appear to be working.
The current protocol in the NFL of immediate sideline assessment involves a neurologic exam, a graduated exercise challenge and the team physician clearing the player. In the NCAA, however, an initial suspected concussion evaluation involves a symptom assessment, physical and neurological exam, cognitive assessment, balance exam and a clinical assessment.
Maryland quarterback Caleb Rowe sustained a concussion according to SB Nation, removed himself from the came and returned a few minutes later.
According to a 2013 survey by the Chronicle of Higher Education, 42 percent of major college football trainers have been pressured by coaches to return an athlete to the field after suffering concussions.
That’s a startling number, one that has no business in the sport of college football.
Arizona head coach Rich Rodriguez knows concussions all too well with his quarterback.
“As coaches, we don’t get in the middle of it,” Rodriguez said in his weekly press conference last week. “There are a lot of people who give opinions, which is kind of comical. All of these other people give their opinion on what a player should do about their injury. One: They are not here to give the medical diagnosis and two: 99 percent of them are not qualified to give a medical diagnosis anyways, as I am not. We aren’t the experts.”
Rodriguez is sending the right message: Head coaches are in no way, shape or form experts on any sort of medical diagnosis.
“[Experts] make the determination whether a guy can go in and play,” Rodriguez said. “That is the way it should be. It should not be in the hands of someone’s opinion or anybody else’s, it’s up to the medical experts. They will always have the student-athlete’s welfare on the top of their list.”
If only every coach could have the same opinion.
Source: Wall, Matt. “Column: Head Injuries Continue to Plague Football.” Arizona Daily Wildcat ::. N.p., 23 Nov. 2015. Web. 23 Nov. 2015.
Posted: November 21, 2015 | Author: admin | Filed under: Concussions, Player Safety, Youth Sports | Tags: Concussions, player safety, Safety Tag, Youth Sports |
By ALINA BRADFORD
A concussion is a traumatic brain injury (TBI) caused by the brain violently bouncing or twisting inside of the skull. These types of injuries can be caused by hits to the head or a sudden whipping back and forth of the neck or body.
Concussions are a common injury. There are about 1.4 million TBI-related deaths, hospitalizations and emergency department visits each year, and 75 to 90 percent of them are concussions or other forms of mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI), according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Risk factors
There are several factors that may increase the risk of a concussion, according to the Mayo Clinic:
- Being involved in a motor vehicle collision
- Being involved in a pedestrian or bicycle accident
- Being a soldier involved in combat
- Being a victim of physical abuse
- Falling, especially in young children and older adults
- Participating in a high-risk sport, such as football, hockey, soccer, rugby, boxing or other contact sport; the risk is further increased if there’s a lack of proper safety equipment and supervision
- Having had a previous concussion
Symptoms
Many of the symptoms of a concussion are hard to notice. Common symptoms are headache, loss of memory (the person may not remember recent events or what caused the injury) and confusion. According to the Mayo Clinic symptoms of a concussion may also include:
- Dizziness or “seeing stars”
- Headache or a feeling of pressure in the head
- Delayed response to questions
- Confusion or feeling as if in a fog
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Slurred speech
- Appearing dazed
- Fatigue
- Temporary loss of consciousness
- Amnesia surrounding the traumatic event
- Ringing in the ears
Symptoms may be apparent immediately or they may be delayed by hours or days after injury. Some symptoms that may take time to appear, according to the Mayo Clinic, are irritability or other personality changes, problems with concentration and memory, sensitivity to light and noise, problems sleeping, depression and sensory problems such as the inability to taste or smell.
Symptoms in children can be different than in adults and even harder to diagnose since it is difficult for young children to express how they feel. Parents and caretakers should look for strange behavior like listlessness, appearing dazed, easily becoming tired, crankiness, unusual clumsiness or unsteady walking, excessive crying or changes in eating or sleeping.
Contrary to popular belief, most concussions do not cause a person to pass out. Many do not seek medical help because of this.
Risks
In the United States, 1.6 to 3.8 million sports and recreation-related TBIs occur each year, according to the CDC. A TBI kills brain cells and creates chemical changes in the brain.
Dr. Kory Gill, an assistant professor at the Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine and team physician for Texas A&M University Athletics, told Live Science that the most important thing people should know about concussions is that they are not like other sports injuries where it is okay to “play hurt” or “play through the pain.”
“Playing when you have not completely recovered from a concussion is dangerous and could be deadly,” said Gill. “Become familiar with the signs/symptoms of concussions and if you think you or a teammate has a concussion speak up. It’s actually a law (Zackery Lystedt Law) now that players, coaches, staff and parents be educated on concussions pre-participation.”
Zackery Lystedt was a 13-year-old football player in the Seattle, Washington, area who was permanently disabled after sustaining a concussion in 2006. He was prematurely returned to the game, according to the CDC. After the game, Lystedt collapsed on the field. He underwent emergency surgery to remove the left and right sides of his skull to relieve the pressure from his swelling brain. He experienced numerous strokes, seven days on a ventilator and three months in a coma.
After he awoke, Lystedt spent four weeks in a nursing home and two months in a children’s hospital for rehabilitation. It was nine months before he spoke his first word, 13 months before he moved a leg or an arm, and 20 months on a feeding tube, according to the CDC. It would be nearly three years before he would stand, with assistance, on his own two feet. The Washington legislature passed the Lystedt Law in 2009, and other states have passed similar laws to help protect young athletes.
Older athletes need protection too. A recent study found thatprofessional football players who have lost consciousness due to a concussion may have an increased risk of changes in the brain and decline in their memory later in life.
Treatment
CT scans and blood tests can be used to diagnose concussions. Rest is usually the most common treatment for concussions. The brain shouldn’t be idle for too long, though. “While a short period of rest is important to allow the brain some time to heal, extended rest and sensory reduction (no TV or electronics) actually prolongs symptoms rather than helping,” said Dr. Kenneth Podell, a neuropsychologist at Houston Methodist Hospital. When in doubt, consult with a medical professional.
A single concussion usually recovers well and the person affected usually isn’t bothered with long-term problems. Rarely, if a second concussion occurs before the brain has healed from the first concussion, it can lead to rapid and severe brain swelling and even death. This condition is also called the second impact syndrome and occurs in people under the age of 21.
“It’s critical to protect children from head injuries because their brains are still developing and the tissue isn’t fully formed,” Dr. Joseph Rempson, co-director of the Center for Concussion Care and Physical Rehabilitation at Overlook Medical Center’s Neuroscience Institute in Summit, New Jersey, told Live Science. “According to research, the brain continues to evolve until an individual is 20 to 25 years old. If a child injures his or her brain, they may not reach their full developmental potential from a memory or cognitive standpoint.”
Dr. Vani Rao, a neuropsychiatrist and co-author of “The Traumatized Brain: A Family Guide to Understanding Mood, Memory, and Behavior After Brain Injury” (Johns Hopkins Press, 2015), noted that the majority of people who sustain a single concussion recover without any long-lasting consequences. However, multiple concussions can increase risk for developing chronic neuropsychiatric problems such as depression, aggression and cognitive problems.
Source: Bradford, Alina. “Concussions: Signs, Symptoms & Treatment.” LiveScience. TechMedia Network, 21 Nov. 2015. Web. 21 Nov. 2015.
Posted: November 16, 2015 | Author: admin | Filed under: Concussions, Lawsuit, Player Safety, Soccer | Tags: lawsuit, player safety, Safety Tag, Youth Sports |
By PETER TORNCELLO
Source: Torncello, Peter. “U.S. Soccer Federation Settles Youth Concussion Lawsuit.” The National Law Review. N.p., 16 Nov. 2015. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.
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