Sunday, March 31, 2013

Youth Coaches and Their Reactions to HB 143 in Ohio

So far, the responses that I have received regarding the implementation of HB 143 (Ohio's Zachary Lystedt law for youth concussions) have been greatly mixed. The responses have ranged from mildly excited, completely apathetic, and more than a few people were reluctantly accepting of it. It has been greatly humbling, and at times, depressing to see these mixed reactions. While this is a topic that I care so deeply about, most people I have met with are simply trying to shrug it off and move on.

The situations that I worry about most are the parents that will fight and argue to their dying breath that their kid is not concussed despite obvious signs and symptoms that the child displays. I have heard far too many times from parents that "They care most about player safety." and "Safety always comes first." That is, until the score appears to dictate different priorities and that same parent denies that an injury could ever happen to their child or their teammates.

Please forgive me if I hold judgement on how effective this law is until I see how parents will react when it is their child that I am holding out of a game because they have some symptoms that generate concern. I have a feeling that more often than not, this will lead to much more confrontation between the parents, coaches, and myself from those individuals that still fail to understand the potential severity of concussions and second impact syndrome.

Certainly, our educational efforts need to continue if we are to have any hope of alleviating these confrontations as much as possible. However, my experiences tell me that this new law will not change the attitudes of far too many people who will still allow themselves to be too caught up in the score of the game when it matters the most.

I guess all I can do is hope that I am wrong about these assumptions. I will also hold out hope that this new law starts to open some eyes to the potential disasters that concussions can make of promising young lives.



Friday, March 15, 2013

New consensus statement on the treatment of concussions

Earlier this week, a new consensus statement was released by the powers that be that discusses the recognition and treatment of concussions in sports. Along with this statement came a revised version of the SCAT test, the SCAT3.

The first important part of this statement for the layperson is that it reinforces the standard of practice that requires coaches and medical staff to hold a person out of play on the same day of a suspected concussion. I agree with this statement completely since I have found several instances where symptoms of concussion have not been apparent until several hours after the time of injury.

We need to take every concussion seriously and stop ignoring the signs just to win a game. This is a very poor priority and is not in the spirit of a quality athletics program for youth. Unfortunately, this is has not always been the case in my experience, even recently.

The other significant point is that the statement reinforces a need for a gradual return to play by which the patient slowly increases their activity. This is meant to take at least six days, but it may take much longer if symptoms persist. This could be weeks, months, or even years.



For those that are interested in seeing the statement, it can be found at:
http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/47/5/250.full.pdf

The new SCAT3 adult version (ages 13 and up) is here:
http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/47/5/259.full.pdf

The new SCAT3 pediatric version (5-12 yo) is here:
http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/47/5/263.full.pdf

And finally the new Concussion Recognition Tool (for laypersons to identify a potential concussion) is located here:
http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/47/5/267.full.pdf

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