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Welcome to the nexus of ethics, psychology, morality, technology, health care, and philosophy
Showing posts with label Concussions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Concussions. Show all posts

Friday, January 26, 2018

Should Potential Risk of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy Be Discussed with Young Athletes?

Kimberly Hornbeck, Kevin Walter, and Matthew Myrvik
AMA Journal of Ethics. July 2017, Volume 19, Number 7: 686-692.

Abstract

As participation in youth sports has risen over the past two decades, so has the incidence of youth sports injuries. A common topic of concern is concussion, or mild traumatic brain injury, in young athletes and whether concussions sustained at a young age could lead to lifelong impairment such as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). While the pathway from a concussed young athlete to an adult with CTE remains unknown, current research is attempting to provide more clarity. This article discusses how health care professionals can help foster an informed, balanced decision-making process regarding participation in contact sports that involves the parents as well as the children.

The information is here.

Friday, November 22, 2013

‘Don’t Tell Coach’: Playing Through Concussions

By Jan Hoffman
The New York Times - Well
Originally published November 5, 2013

Here is an excerpt:

An extensive report about sports-related concussions in young people, released last week by the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council, made recommendations that included bolstering research, collecting data, examining injury protocols and educating the public. But the report identified one particularly stubborn challenge: the “culture of resistance” among high school and college athletes, who may be inclined to shrug off the invisible injuries and return immediately to the field.

“There is still a culture among athletes,” the report said, “that resists both the self-reporting of concussions and compliance with appropriate concussion management plans.”

The entire story is here.

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Researchers Press for Broad Ban on Hockey Fights

By JEFF Z. KLEIN
The New York Times
Published: October 9, 2013

Researchers at a Mayo Clinic conference on concussions in hockey called Wednesday for a ban on fighting at all levels of the sport, eight days after a Montreal Canadiens enforcer was hospitalized because of a fight on opening night of the N.H.L. season.

“Science has responded to the game on the ice,” said Ken Dryden, a Hall of Fame Canadiens goalie and a member of the Canadian Parliament, who spoke at the conference. “Now it’s time for the game to respond to the science.”

The entire story is here.

Thursday, March 28, 2013

New Guidelines Raise Safety Bar on Concussions

By Alan Mozes
Medicinenet.com
Originally published March 18, 2013

Any athlete who suffers a suspected concussion should be withdrawn from play and stay on the sidelines until a qualified health care professional determines that all symptoms have subsided and it is safe to return to the field, new guidelines state.

Issued by the American Academy of Neurology, the latest recommendations aim to keep young athletes as safe as possible.

"With the older guidelines, we were trying to rate concussions at the time of the injury and predict recovery times, but now we know, 'When in doubt, sit 'em out,'" said guideline co-author Dr. Christopher Giza, an associate professor of pediatric neurology and neurosurgery with the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, and Mattel Children's Hospital.

"The point is that no single quick test is really a litmus test for a concussion," he said. "We know now that we need to make sure a player has had a thorough and proper evaluation, involving a symptoms checklist, a standardized assessment and balance and cognitive testing, before being returned to play. This evaluation has to be done on a case-by-case basis, so each person goes through an individualized recovery process."


Monday, January 14, 2013

Is college football doing enough about head injuries to protect players?

By Jon Solomon | jsolomon@al.com
on January 03, 2013
Alabama.com

Some chilling images of head injuries loom over this college football season.

There was the huge hit USC wide receiver Robert Woods took against Utah while blocking for a teammate. Woods got up, staggered around and fell to the ground. He was checked on the sideline and returned after missing one play.

There were two hits to the head Arizona quarterback Matt Scott received on one play against USC. He vomited on the field as the television announcers almost pleaded for Scott to be taken out. Scott stayed in the game to throw the winning touchdown.

There was the hit Connecticut quarterback Chandler Whitmer sustained against Cincinnati that he would later describe as a "bullet to the head." Whitmer, who had suffered a concussion the previous week, missed one play. He soon took another hit, needed help getting to the Connecticut sideline, and this time his day was over.

As college football reaches its national championship game Monday night, a question is being asked publicly with more frequency: Is college football doing enough to keep players safe?

The entire article is here.

Monday, December 10, 2012

Report Urges ‘Cultural Shift’ as Hockey Coaches Defy Concussion Specialists


By JEFF Z. KLEIN
The New York Times
Originally Published: November 30, 2012

Despite several years of intensive research, coverage and discussion about the dangers of concussions, the idea of playing through head injuries is so deeply rooted in hockey culture that two university teams kept concussed players on the ice even though they were taking part in a major concussion study.

The study, which was published Friday in a series of articles in the journal Neurosurgical Focus, was conducted during the 2011-12 hockey season by researchers from the University of Western Ontario, the University of Montreal, Harvard and other institutions.

“This culture is entrenched at all levels of hockey, from peewee to university,” said Dr. Paul S. Echlin, a concussion specialist and researcher in Burlington, Ontario, and the lead author of the study. “Concussion is a significant public health issue that requires a generational shift. As with smoking or seat belts, it doesn’t just happen overnight — it takes a massive effort and collective movement.”

The study is believed to be among the most comprehensive analyses of concussions in hockey, which has a rate of head trauma approaching that of football. Researchers followed two Canadian university teams — a men’s team and a women’s team — and scanned every player’s brain before and after the season. Players who sustained head injuries also received scans at three intervals after the injuries, with researchers using advanced magnetic resonance imaging techniques.

The entire article is here.

Saturday, May 12, 2012

The Tragic Suicide Death of Junior Seau


By John M. Grohol, PsyD.
World of Psychology Blog

The evidence is in, and the death of NFL football player Junior Seau has been ruled a suicide. The speculation is that he suffered from depression as a result of the concussions he sustained as a pro football player in the U.S. Seau spent most of his football career as a San Diego Charger.

Many in the news media are portraying this as some sort of new news — that having your head repeatedly banged and bashed can cause long-lasting brain damage. Even with a padded helmet, there’s been a wealth of research demonstrating that head injuries still occur. The human head just wasn’t meant for years and years of such repeated abuse.

It’s also not the first time we’ve known of this link between football playing, concussions, and being at a much higher risk for depression (and even dementia). Perhaps this time the message will get through.

Monday, November 21, 2011

Safety in Youth Sports Act becomes Law in Pennsylvania

PPA Press Release
Originally released 11/14/2011



Governor Corbett signed the Safety in Youth Sports Act today in a ceremony at Lower Dauphin High School, Dauphin County. The state General Assembly passed it on November 1. The legislation is Senate Bill 200, introduced by Sen. Patrick M. Browne (R-Lehigh). It was shepherded through the House by Rep. Timothy P. Briggs (D-Montgomery), who had introduced the companion bill, House Bill 200.

This bill established standards for managing concussions to student athletes. In order to return to play the athlete must be cleared by a licensed psychologist trained in neuropsychology, by a physician who is trained in the evaluation and management of concussions, or by certain other health care providers under the supervision of the physician. The Pennsylvania Psychological Association's advocacy was instrumental in this bill's passage. The association's past president, Dr. Mark Hogue stated, "This new law will be extremely important to any athlete who suffers a concussion. Athletes who return to play prematurely are at risk of a second concussion, which can be life-threatening." Dr. Hogue is a clinical and sport psychologist from Erie.

The bill will require the state Departments of Health and Education to develop and post on their websites information on the nature of concussions in athletic activities and the risks associated with continuing to play or practice after a concussion. Student-athletes and their parents or guardians must sign an acknowledgment of receipt of an information sheet on concussions prior to participation in athletics. It will require coaches to complete a concussion management certification training course before coaching any athletic activity. During an athletic contest coaches will be required to remove athletes from competition if they exhibit signs of a concussion.

The legislation will become effective on July 1, 2012, in time for the next school year. It does not pertain to private schools, but only to public schools. It covers interscholastic athletics as well as other sports associated with a school entity, and includes cheerleading, practices, and scrimmages.

Sunday, October 23, 2011

N.F.L. Plans Broader Concussion Research

By Sam Borden
The New York Times

The N.F.L’s first attempt at a long-range study on the effects of concussions was riddled with problems from the manner in which data was collected to conflicts of interest for those overseeing it. After criticism from outside experts and even members of Congress, the study was shut down by the league in late 2009.

Nearly two years later, however, the N.F.L.’s committee on concussion research is planning a considerably broader study — an effort that could begin gathering data as soon as next season, according to one of the doctors involved.

The doctor, Mitchel S. Berger, the chairman of the neurological surgery department at the University of California San Francisco, said Monday that he and the N.F.L.’s subcommittee on former players and long-term effects of brain and spine injury had been holding conference calls regarding the study every two weeks with representatives from the players’ union. He added that he hoped to make a final presentation to the union and Commissioner Roger Goodell “in the near future.”

Berger said he was aware of the issues surrounding the previous study, and said the latest model was completely different.

“There was no science in that,” Berger said in reference to the study coordinated by Dr. Ira Casson, who was also the league’s primary voice in discrediting outside research on concussions. Asked if he might use any of the data from Casson’s work, Berger shook his head.

The entire story can be read here.

An Ordinary Football Game, Then a Player Dies

By Jorge Castillo
The New York Times

Football coaches and school administrators at John C. Birdlebough High School congregated in a small room off the library Monday, huddling around a computer for a most painful and unusual review of game video. They examined every play that one student was involved in, assuming the role of medical examiners.

They were trying to discern which collision of the hundreds in a football game at Homer High School on Friday night might have caused Ridge Barden, a 16-year-old defensive tackle, to fall to the turf in the third quarter and die within a few hours. The coroner attributed Barden’s death to a subdural hematoma, or a brain bleed.

“There’s nothing here; there’s still nothing there; there’s nothing there; there’s nothing there — and now he’s laying on his stomach,” Jeff Charles, the head coach, said while watching the sequence frame by frame.
As those who play and coach football learn new ways to improve safety — through training, medical response and equipment — sometimes they are left to contemplate this: brains remain vulnerable, and even the most ordinary collisions on the field can kill.

(cut)

Barden’s father, Jody, said he had no objection to the sport in the wake of his son’s death.

“I just don’t want a negative spin on this,” Mr. Barden said Sunday. “There is no blame in this. I don’t want to scare kids from playing the game. Ridge loved playing the game, and I know he wouldn’t want it to get a bad name.”

The entire story can be read here.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Teen Athletes Should Get Concussion Test Score Before Play

-- Robert Preidt

(HealthDay News) -- Individual concussion baselines need to be created for young athletes at the start of a playing season for them to be accurately diagnosed and treated if they suffer a concussion during the season, researchers report.

The investigators also noted that the sex of the players affects the scores on a standardized concussion assessment tool.

The study included 1,134 high school athletes in the Phoenix area who completed a brief questionnaire regarding their concussion history and were given a score based on the new Sport Concussion Assessment Tool-2 (SCAT2).

There were 872 males and 262 females, average age 15, included in the study. The predominant sports were football for the males and volleyball for the females.

Females scored significantly higher than males on the SCAT2 total score, and athletes with a prior history of concussion scored much lower on the SCAT2 than those with no history of concussion.

The findings were slated for presentation Thursday at the annual meeting of the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine (AOSSM) in San Diego.

"Our results showed that otherwise healthy adolescent athletes do display some variability in results so establishing each player's own baseline before the season starts and then comparing it to test results following a concussion leads to more accurate diagnosis and treatment," study author Dr. Anikar Chhabra, of the Orthopaedic Clinic Association in Phoenix, said in an AOSSM news release.

"This data provides the first insight into how the SCAT2 scores can be used and interpreted as a sideline concussion tool and as an initial baseline analysis. With concussions accounting for approximately 9% of all high school athletic injuries, accurately utilizing assessments like these to quickly determine an athlete's return-to-play probability is critical to long-term athletic and educational performance," Chhabra said.

Because this study was presented at a medical meeting, the data and conclusions should be viewed as preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.