Concussions...the never fading injury.

This week, the issue has been on my mind of concussions. First off, there was a lawsuit filed yesterday by 31 former NFL players against the NFL for lack of protection against them having concussions on the field. As far as this tidbit is concerned, my feeling is there wasn't much information or study on the injury back when most of these players were on the field and were getting concussed. It's not right that theses men were treated and evaluated like they were back then knowing now what we know about concussions, but who's really to blame. They were grown men when this happened so they could have made the choice not to play.  Don't get me wrong, I do care that these guys were injured, but I don't see myself suing McDonald's or Burger King if I have a heart attack due to the types of food they serve. Secondly, after reluctantly attending concussion training, now mandated by the State of Texas for all athletic trainers in high schools, this issue and injury has got me really thinking hard. Are we educating the general public enough?

Concussions are considered Mild Traumatic Brain Injuries or MTBIs for short.  They can occur in ANY sport and are often misdiagnosed.  The Brain basically sits in fluid inside of the skull so any sudden jerk or impact could cause a concussion.  The misdiagnosis comes from people, and sometime doctors thinking that if a CAT Scan of the brain comes back with no signs of trauma, the athlete is fine.  Well, this is a falsehood, because CAT Scans only see injury 3% of the time, so 97% of them are missed of this is the only tool used to diagnose.

Physical things one should look for if they suspect a concussion are loss of consciousness, dizziness or unbalanced, blurred vision, headache, nausea, even dilated pupils.  Mentally, one should look for confusion, loss of memory of time periods, irregular sleep patterns, edginess, light sensitivity, noise sensitivity, lack of ability to concentrate, mood swings and even depression.

The effects of concussion can last from a week or two to months.  An athlete really needs to be clear of all symptoms before they should attempt going back to practice or competitions, especially by their doctor.  If they are released too soon, there is a risk of second impact syndrome in which the athlete experiences some or all of the symptoms again, and then they are  back to square one in recovery . Younger athletes seem to be more susceptible to this.    If a concussion is not allowed to heal properly there can be long term or lasting effects that could last a life time.

In saying all of this, as parents, coaches or even athletic trainers like myself, we need to pay more attention when our kids get hit and then start showing the signs.  Nobody's brain or mind something we should lose to sports.  Lets let them heal and hopefully they will live a long, healthy life.