A colleague of mine reminded me of a story that she told me recently after reading my blog and thought it might be worth adding to this story.
This colleage asked me a couple of months ago about return to play standards after a concussion. The story told to me second hand a few months ago, so some of the details I may be a little fuzzy on. Her nephew was playing hockey when he sustained a very significant concussion. If I recall correctly, this was actually the second concussion he had suffered this season. The treating physician, a neurosurgeon, gave the athlete strict instructions to remain at home for a period of about 5-7 days. During this time he was to minimize stimulation as much as possible. This included no TV, video gaming, reading, and to minimize interactions with others. (This is being prescribed more often by physcians as a means to give the brain time to heal after the injury.) While a lot of research is continuing into this practice, on the surface, it makes sense that the brain would need time to heal.
Now for the disturbing part of the story. The teachers at his school, while reluctant to accept this plan of care, went along with it since they didn't want to cross a doctor's orders. However, the hockey coach was beside himself and was ready to throw this young man off the team when he didn't show up to support his teammates later in the week at another hockey game. Somehow, I guess he didn't think that being a spectator in a game that the young man cared greatly about was any kind of siginificant stimulation. It required parental intervention with the coach's supervisors to get the coach to back away from his threats.
This situation, I think, just reinforces the need for Athletic Trainers to be present and helping to inform coaches of just what is going on in with their althetes. I think that a lot of the headache in this case (no pun intended,) could have been averted with the right amount of education to all of the parties involved.
I think you are right on! We hear stories like these so many times. Luckily it's rarely a matter of life or death, but you certainly have to be cautious.
ReplyDeleteI'm sort of fascinated by the fact that concussion awareness hasn't taken off until now. I've had two concussions in my life (I think), and essentially was given no instructions on what to do in the days and weeks following one. I saw a doctor on both occasions, and he told me he assumed I had a concussion both times-- but they never did any brain scans or whatever. I don't know if that's par for the course these days, or what, but I walked away from the incidents thinking, "Man, THIS is the best we can do when it comes to brain injuries? The guy treated it like I had stubbed my toe." And now I see all the work being done on behalf of NFL players, and how it's sort of become a hot button issue, and I see how serious they can become. I definitely think gym teachers and coaches, especially, should be given more training on what to do (and clear communication with parents) whenever this happens to a young student.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea that this was an issue. I teach elementary school and really not into sports a whole lot. I can see the coaches being upset with losing a player, but you need to think about the kids health first. Sometimes I think the coaches are concerned more about winning than the well being of their players. Especially adhering to doctor's orders in regards to an injured player. What happened to playing for fun?
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