Watch for
signs of a concussion such as headaches, nausea, and dizziness.
Not exact matches
Unfortunately, there has been during this same period, and especially in the last five to ten years, a substantial increase in the number
of reported cases
of second impact syndrome (SIS), which occurs when an athlete who sustains head trauma, i.e. a traumatic brain injury - often a
concussion or worse injury,
such as a cerebral contusion (bruised brain)- sustains a second head injury before
signs of the initial injury have cleared.
Add in the possibility that sideline personnel responsible for monitoring athletes for
signs of concussion,
such as team doctors and athletic trainers, or coaches and parent volunteers, may be away from the sideline attending to other injured athletes when a player sustains a high force blow, or, even if they are watching the field / court / rink, may miss significant impacts because they occur away from the play, and one can see why better
concussion detection methods are needed.
While all but three states now have laws requiring immediate removal from play
of athletes with
concussion signs or symptoms and prohibit same - day return to play for those with suspected
concussion, some are concerned that
such laws may have the perverse effect
of making the under - reporting problem even worse, fearing that an athlete is going to be even less likely to self - report experiencing
concussion symptoms and more likely to hide symptoms from teammates, game officials and sideline personnel if they know that a suspected
concussion may sideline them for the rest
of the game.
My experience with the Newcastle football team in Oklahoma leads me to believe that, as long as impact sensors are strictly used for the limited purpose
of providing real - time impact data to qualified sideline personnel, not to diagnose
concussions, not as the sole determining factor in making remove - from - play decisions, and not to replace the necessity for observers on the sports sideline trained in recognizing the
signs of concussion and in conducting a sideline screening for
concussion using one or more sideline assessment tests for
concussion (e.g. SCAT3, balance, King - Devick, Maddocks questions, SAC)(preferably by a certified athletic trainer and / or team physician), and long as data on the number, force, and direction
of impacts is only made available for use by coaches and athletic trainers in a position to use
such information to adjust an athlete's blocking or tackling tec hnique (and not for indiscriminate use by those,
such as parents, who are not in a position to make intelligent use
of the data), they represent a valuable addition to a program's
concussion toolbox and as a tool to minimize repetitive head impacts.
It does not measure other critical brain functions that can be adversely affected by head trauma,
such as balance and vision, which is why expert groups [1] recommend a «multifaceted approach to
concussion management that emphasizes the use
of objective assessment tools aimed at capturing the spectrum
of clinical
signs and symptoms, cognitive dysfunction, and physical deficits... that are more sensitive to the injury than using any one component alone.»
Concussion and Sports Related Head Injury: Code 280.13 C requires the Iowa high school athletic association and the Iowa girls high school athletic union to work together to distribute the CDC guidelines and other information to inform and educate coaches, students, and parents and guardians of students of the risks, signs, symptoms, and behaviors consistent with a concussion or brain injury, including the danger of continuing to play after suffering a concussion or brain injury and their responsibility to report such signs, symptoms, and behaviors if t
Concussion and Sports Related Head Injury: Code 280.13 C requires the Iowa high school athletic association and the Iowa girls high school athletic union to work together to distribute the CDC guidelines and other information to inform and educate coaches, students, and parents and guardians
of students
of the risks,
signs, symptoms, and behaviors consistent with a
concussion or brain injury, including the danger of continuing to play after suffering a concussion or brain injury and their responsibility to report such signs, symptoms, and behaviors if t
concussion or brain injury, including the danger
of continuing to play after suffering a
concussion or brain injury and their responsibility to report such signs, symptoms, and behaviors if t
concussion or brain injury and their responsibility to report
such signs, symptoms, and behaviors if they occur.
Parents and / or guardians shall be provided with information as to the risk
of concussion and / or traumatic brain injuries prior to the start
of every sport season and they shall
sign an acknowledgement as to their receipt
of such information.
It is the responsibility
of staff members involved in school activities and trained in the
signs and symptoms related to
concussion or other head injury, to act in accordance with this policy when the staff member recognizes that a student may be exhibiting
such signs and symptoms
of a
concussion.
As Larry Leverenz, Ph.D, ATC, a co-author
of the groundbreaking 2010 study (4) that was the first to identify
such athletes noted, because
such athletes have not suffered damage to areas
of the brain associated with language and auditory processing, they are unlikely to exhibit clinical
signs of head injury (
such as headache or dizziness), or show impairment on sideline assessment for
concussion, all
of which test for verbal, not visual memory.
If no medical personnel are on the sports sideline, any athlete showing potential
signs of concussion,
such as balance or motor incoordination (stumbles, slow / labored movements), disorientation or confusion, loss
of memory, blank or vacant look or visible facial injury combined with any
of these other symptoms, should be removed from play, barred from returning and referred for a formal evaluation by a qualified health care professional.
Also look for
signs of a possible
concussion,
such as vomiting, sensitivity to light, irritability, or difficulty with coordination or balance.
I called the pediatrician on one
of these occasions concerned that she had suffered a
concussion, yet she never manifested
signs of such.
While
such longitudinal studies are important, it's important to remember that the field is still young, with no consensus on the best tools to look for early
signs of damage, said Michael Hutchison, a neuroscientist who directs a
concussion program at the University
of Toronto and consults for the National Hockey League Players» Association.