Wisconsin lawmakers are taking steps to protect youth athletes from repeated concussions. A bill currently before the Legislature would cover youth sports from ages 11 to 19 and require coaches to take a player out of the game or practice immediately if the player may have had a traumatic brain injury. The athlete would not be allowed to play again until he or she has written permission from a health care provider. Given the medical evidence demonstrating the huge risk associated with successive concussions, allowing an athlete to play with an existing brain injury is flat-out stupid.
Contact sports are a beautiful thing. There is something about a big hit that taps into the deeper layers of human consciousness, activating emotions that evolved long before business casual, silverware and napkins, or before the automobile was even a blip on the horizon. I’m a Minnesotan who may have been taught how to skate before he could walk, so I learned at an early age not to shy away from contact. And because I wasn’t the most prolific goal scorer to set foot on the ice, I usually made it my objective to run into people and create disorder. It was exciting, and every time I stepped out onto the ice I got an adrenaline rush.
There are many euphemisms that describe the blunt force trauma of a high-energy collision – “he really got laid out,” or “he just got labeled,” to name a few of the less profane examples. There are as many phrases to describe the mild traumatic brain injuries that go with these collisions, such as “having a few cobwebs” or “seeing stars.” It’s a feeling that most athletes learn to ignore.
These lighthearted colloquialisms make light of a serious medical issue. Contact sports are inextricably linked with traumatic brain injuries. In a report on non-fatal traumatic brain injuries in adolescents, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention found that emergency room visits for TBIs almost doubled between 2001 and 2009.
An analysis of the CDC report that appeared in the New York Times said in sports such as football and hockey, diagnosed concussions may represent as little as one-sixth or one-seventh of the actual number of concussions. I think most players and coaches would agree with these estimates.
The long-term effects of concussions can be devastating. Post-concussion syndrome symptoms can include chronic headaches, memory loss and clinical depression. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported 15-year-old Josh Inhof’s experience with sports-related brain injuries. Inhof, recovering from multiple concussions he was diagnosed with after being knocked unconscious in a high-school football game a week ago, continues to have headaches and still can’t watch television or read.
Concussions have a cumulative effect on the brain, and symptoms become progressively more severe as subsequent concussions are sustained. For Inhof, this may have been the reason behind the severity of his concussion – he probably got one concussion during practice earlier in the week that was never diagnosed, and a second, possibly a third, during a game a few days later. Because the symptoms of repeated concussions are so severe, these undiagnosed concussions represent a serious danger for youth athletes.
This legislation is an important measure to protect kids from the inherent dangers of contact sports, which are often overlooked by parents and coaches, and of which youth athletes are rarely aware. This is only half of the solution. The other half is education and awareness; contact sports can teach young athletes important life lessons, but none of these is worth the lifelong repercussions of a brain injury. Even as youth sports become more and more competitive and demanding every year, parents, coaches and the athletes themselves must be conscious of the fact that health and safety is a priority.
It is the responsibility of Wisconsin lawmakers, athletic directors, coaches and parents to make sure traumatic experiences like the Inhofs’ are avoided, through handling concussions with all the caution and attention that they deserve.
Charles Godfrey ([email protected]) is a sophomore majoring in math and physics.
