Join the Movement to Prevent Concussions and Their Aftermath
Time was, if you “got your bell rung” on the field of athletic play, it was a badge of honor. And if you could “shake it off” and get back into the game, you were a stud, and a role model for the rest of your teammates and spectators.
How quaint. In recent years, studies have proved that a concussion — having your “bell rung” — is not something to banner on your jock resume, but a signal to slow down, recuperate and accept that concussions can be precursors to brain damage.
It is critical, especially, that parents receive and understand this message. Although equipment manufacturers, trainers, doctors and coaches are beginning to embrace the need to protect against concussion, there’s still a macho element of sports competition that believes you’re supposed to play through pain.
A story about wiser heads prevailing appeared recently in the New York Times, which profiled a new initiative by a sporting goods chain to prevent and treat concussions in student athletes. Dick’s Sporting Goods is sponsoring neurocognitive testing of more than 1 million athletes to establish a baseline of healthy brain activity.
Referred to as ImPACT (Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing), the tests profile each student’s baseline of brains functions such as verbal and visual memory and reaction time. The results are compared with the results of the same tests given in the event of a suspected concussion. If the comparison signifies deterioration, the player is benched until deemed healthy enough to resume play.
Called Protecting Athletes through Concussion Education (PACE), the program employs a diagnostic procedure also used by professional sports associations including the National Football League, Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League.
As The Times’ story notes, approximately 300,000 sports- or recreation-related concussions are diagnosed nationwide yearly, but, according to the American College of Sports Medicine, approximately 8 in 10 concussions go undiagnosed.
There’s information, and there’s the useful application of information. To boost the chances of concussion-awareness getting through to student jocks and their parents, Dick’s has employed the services of former Pittsburgh Steelers’ running back Jerome Bettis in a commercial to convey the importance of baseline testing.
Known during his career as “The Bus” for dragging defenders down the field, he’s featured with a football helmet and saying, “You wouldn’t get on the field without this — and you shouldn’t get on the field without a baseline concussion test either.”
As reported by The Times, Bettis had several concussions, and said that he wished he had known more about the symptoms and the potential long-term impairment. “[H]ad I known then what I know now,” Bettis said, “I would have handled it differently and I would have told the trainers, because the last thing I want is 20 years down the road to not have my brain function correctly.”
If your children participate in sports or a recreational activity with even the slightest potential for head injury, ask the school, athletic association or your physician how to get a baseline concussion test. And stay involved during the season — ensure that equipment is adequate, and that the coaches, trainers and other adult supervisors are as concerned about head injury as you are.
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