As school sports start up this fall, the possibility of student athletes suffering concussions should be at the forefront of parents’ minds, reports Kathy Lynn Gray for Columbus Parent.
Ms. Gray writes (paragraph breaks added for clarity):
Last year, the sports concussion clinic at Nationwide Children’s Hospital saw more than 3,000 cases, mostly related to football, soccer, wrestling, hockey and lacrosse injuries, said Dr. Steven Cuff, a sports medicine physician who co-directs the clinic.
“Football is the leading cause, because of the contact in the sport and the sheer number of kids who play on a team,” he said. “In general though, it’s the higher-contact sports.”
The article continues:
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines a concussion as a traumatic brain injury caused by a bump to the head or a body slam that causes the brain to “bounce around or twist in the skull.”
Cuff said such an injury causes the brain to temporarily change how it works, creating symptoms such as headache, dizziness, light sensitivity, nausea, sleep disruption and difficulty remembering or concentrating.
A doctor should evaluate anyone who is concussed, he said, but the evaluation doesn’t have to be immediate if symptoms are minimal.
Ohio’s student athletes do, however, benefit from a law passed in 2013, which implemented mandatory procedures for players who may have a concussion.
While concussions always have been a reality in youth sports, concerns have skyrocketed in the past decade as research has shown the potential for harm can be acute and long-term and is greater for children and teens. That has led sports leagues, schools and states to establish policies to try to reduce the damage from concussions and to track their prevalence.
Under Ohio’s 2013 Return to Play law, a youth athlete suspected of having a concussion must be removed from the game. The player can return the next day if a health-care provider declares, in writing, that he or she did not have a concussion.
The law also mandates concussion training for coaches and referees and requires parents to sign a concussion information form before their child competes. ...
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