Part 2: Is Your Child Safe? Concussions
- Dr. Steven Horwitz
- May 12, 2016
- 2 min read
"I'll always regret that Kelli and I relied on chance and luck when we signed up our son for football, and I'm going to tell you that way doesn't work."
Frank Cutinella, father of Tom Cutinella, a high school football player who died after a helmet to helmet hit.
When reading the article, please keep this statement by Dr. Doug Casa of the Korey Stringer Institute in mind,
"Nearly all of the causes of death in sport are influenced by the care [provided] in the first five to seven minutes." (Ref)
Concussions
This disconnect is even more disturbing when it comes to concussions. The Zurich 2012 Consensus Statement states,
“Concussion is considered to be among the most complex injuries in sports medicine to diagnose, assess and manage.”
Yet, school systems and leagues think that this annual 30 minute CDC educational program is sufficient to educate coaches on emergency head injury management.
The statement goes on to say,
“At present, there is no perfect diagnostic test or marker that clinicians can rely on for an immediate diagnosis of concussion in the sporting environment. Because of this evolving process, it is not possible to rule out concussion when an injury event occurs associated with a transient neurological symptom.”
And even for the trained medical professional,
“The on-field evaluation of sports-related concussion is often a challenge given the elusiveness and variability of presentation, difficulty in making a timely diagnosis, specificity and sensitivity of sideline assessment tools, and the reliance on symptoms.”
"If your ask me how to diagnose a concussion with 100% accuracy, I will tell you I have no idea." Dan Garza, MD, Assistant Professor, Stanford School of Medicine, Assistant Director of Sports Medicine, Medical Director, San Francisco 49ers.
A helmet sensor went off in a high school player’s helmet. He was evaluated for a concussion. He was returned to the game. Read more here.
"These previous types of accelerations that maybe were not counted as hits, maybe they should be counted." Dan Garza, MD, Assistant Professor, Stanford School of Medicine
The first state concussion law, the Zachary Lystedt Law, was a REACTIVE (read not proactive!) response to a horrible injury. “Zach’s injury was preventable. If Zach had just been taken out of the game and remained out, he’d be like every other kid …”
Watch the video here.
How many student athletes are affected? Check out the real story in Dallas, Texas.
DFW Concussions Broken Down by School District and Sport
Does cumulative trauma matter?
Watch this episode of Friday Night Tykes. Watch from 36:35 - 37:55
Has your school or league provided you with:
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