Youth Concussion Bill Threatened...Parents Take Note!
Fellow parents, take note. Our kids’ brain health is at stake!
A proposed Wisconsin law requiring specific guidelines for youth athletes who suffer concussion is at risk. Republican lawmakers have stripped out a requirement that club sports and school districts adhere to guidelines proposed by the medical community.
Instead, the law allows clubs and schools to make their own rules about responding to player concussions. This is a bad idea.
The NFL discovered too late that playing athletes before they are fully healed is not only dangerous it has serious long term effects. Let’s not make the same mistake that the NFL did.
Club sports are perhaps the biggest threat to brain health. With year-round training and pressure to perform the athletes, coaches and parents may be hard pressed to pull players who are badly needed on the field.
And coaches — often well-meaning parents — are not equipped to evaluate whether a child has been injured or is ready to return to play.
Suggesting that coaches and parents possess the ability to evaluate for brain injury is the same as suggesting they diagnose other sports-related injuries. Frankly, it doesn't work!
Recently, my niece practiced headers with her soccer coach. Only after she developed severe concussion symptoms hours later did her mom realize that the coach — being a skilled player already — allowed her daughter to take all of the headers during the drill — and never took a turn himself (as the other player pairs had). Hence, she suffered for weeks with headaches and dizziness thanks to multiple micro-concussions.
Let’s face it, if clubs and schools were doing an effective job of self-managing the challenge of player concussion, the medical community would not have had a reason to propose legislation. Suggesting that coaches and parents possess the ability to evaluate for brain injury is the same as suggesting they diagnose other sports-related injuries. Frankly, it doesn't work!
It’s incumbent on us as parents to rely on medical professionals who understand the subtleties of concussion symptoms to evaluate our kids following an injury. No coach or parent is skilled enough to evaluate the readiness for returning play — and very few kids will ever admit the full extent of their symptoms such as headache and dizziness — which are largely known only to them.
We all know that the long-term effects of concussion on the brain are significant and include permanent brain damage and loss of cognitive function. Reason enough to want to protect our kids as much as possible.
Parents, coaches, teachers, students, I urge you to take action today — contact your legislators — Google Wisconsin Legislators and find out who yours are and how to reach them.
It takes only a moment and the effects could last — well, a lifetime.
Click here for the full story: http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/amendment-weakens-youth-concussion-bill-994g9av-142007183.html
Joana Briggs
12:15 pm on Sunday, March 11, 2012
You are so correct. Every injury needs to be evaluated by a professional. A grand child fell off the stage during a play practice. She looked fine and as you point out denied any pain. When I picked her up from school no one said a thing. She looked tired and only picked at dinner so I starting probing. She told me how embarrassed she was very quickly as the tale unfolded. She did admit at this point to pain and feeling dizzy so off we went to St. Francis. They found she had a concussion and her chin was dislocated. By now the chin was starting to discolor. With careful follow up she recovered even though her chin is still a bit off. Doctor was very pleased we acted quickly as it would have gotten worse without care. Next day I went to the school and the person in charge of the play and all staff were retrained on accident assessment and reporting. I am contacting my reps as soon as I read the bill. Thanks for the heads up.
Tom McHunter
1:24 pm on Sunday, March 11, 2012
Funny how social conventions are at play in this country. If a student off the field were to get bonked on the head, it would be a law enforcement matter. Yet, parents promote and fund this head smashing at the expense of their kids every football game. Head injuries are the new nicotine.
mau
1:51 pm on Sunday, March 11, 2012
What parent in their right mind would even allow their children to participate in a sport prone to head injuries? And then putting their children's health in danger by a coach and school who only cares about "winning". "Let's do it for the coach, rah!" Bull.
The same goes for any parent who blindly puts their children's health decision in the hands of the schools and medical community. We never signed the waver allowing the school to make any medical decision for us. In pre-school the teacher diagnosed our son with pink eye and sent him home. He had an eye infection from rubbing his eyes with dirty hands after playing in the sand box. In elementary school he was diagnosed as losing his hearing. He had his molars coming through which affected his hearing.
Parents, wake up.
Randy1949
2:39 pm on Sunday, March 11, 2012
@Mau -- that's just about any contact sport -- baseball, football, soccer, even cheer-leading under some circumstances. All it takes is a hard fall. It's too bad some coaches will brush it off and said a kid back in, so maybe we need to take that ability out of their hands.
It's one thing with adults. But children can't make their own educated decisions to listen to the coach and 'do it for the team'.
Randy1949
2:39 pm on Sunday, March 11, 2012
Edit -- that should have read 'send' a kid back in.
mau
7:23 pm on Sunday, March 11, 2012
My son is a big boy, always was. When he started middle school the pressure started from the football and wrestling coaches. We knew why they wanted him and we said no. We let him have his trumpet, take all the shop classes he wanted, provided him with the tools and supervision to use them at home and he got a job at a local farm. I know any one of those pose a risk but he got something out of them.
I don't know that adults have any more sense. Look how many athletes have permanent lifetime medical problems when they quit, from injuries and steroids.
J. B. Schmidt
10:56 am on Monday, March 12, 2012
@Mau
I disagree partially. The problem with our society is that we have given child raising ability to whoever steps up: coaches, teachers, child care professional, ect. We assume they will parent as we would. While injury should be addressed by coaches (As the bill states), we as parents should be stepping in and instructing our own kids to understand the pains their body is telling them.
I think almost every sport could involve some level of contact that can produce a concussion. My kids play baseball and I have seen some errant pitches or throws glance off someone's head. To bar participation on the possibility of head injury seems drastic and hypocritical, especially since your son could have easily been hurt as badly if not worse in shop class.
Craig
11:43 am on Monday, March 12, 2012
JB and mau: Part of the problem as I see it with club sports. We as parents pay top dollar, and expect the coaching staff to be professionals. Some clubs are willing to push the envelope to find the next Olympian, leaving a wake of damaged kids behind. Some years ago, my kid suffered a pars defect (a fracture of part of the spine).
MD put the kid in a turtle shell for 6 months, and advised the coach about repetition. When the kid could rehab and went back it was under strict rules about repetition. Two months later those rules we exceeded by 300%, and again another fracture. The second time ended sports for my kid.
Repeated calls from the Dr, went unreturned by coaching staff. They knew the extent of the violation, but were willing to risk a few kids for the one who could handle it. Without naming the sport or the facility I can count several kids who have the same problem.
What it boils down to is: Coaches are people, and the population is full of self serving jerks out there.
Some coaches are great, some are stupid, some are just bad seeds.
mau
1:30 pm on Monday, March 12, 2012
@JB, agreed. Difference is, and there is the potential of injury in any occupation, he was training for a lifelong skill. Personal safety equipment, safety guards on the machines, proper handling of the tools, etc. was part of the course. Plus he got a double dose because in this house safety is always #1 when using tools and equipment.
I grew up participating in a lot of sports, none school team sports, and someone usually ended up hurt. But never for life. And my son did play the neighborhood sports.
Born Free
2:23 pm on Sunday, March 11, 2012
How many headers does it take to cause a micro concusion? That depends on to what degree varying G-forces cause micro concusions in the first place. Factor in also the age of the person. Factor in also the physical conditioning of a player.
Well Rachel since you made it a partisan issue then why not include the contents (other bills) of the original packaged bill that were passed foregoing this single bill by the Republicans? I get the impression that your saying anyone to the right of the Democrats doesn't care about children not even their own. But wait a minute...that's what a bill like that is designed to imply in the first place. In essence bills like that are frivolous.
3 years ago a Democrat legislator in California playing the "for the children card" tried to pass a bill to temporarily suspend the use of aluminum baseball bats because a kid in a baseball game recieved a severe concusion after getting hit in the head by a ball which was hit by an aluminum baseball bat. Ok, "only in California" would some Democrat looking for re-election be so frivolous. Why not just ban baseballs instead? Why not just ban baseball altogether? Because a dumb bill like that didn't passd he got on his soap box about Republicans not caring about children.
Born Free
2:23 pm on Sunday, March 11, 2012
Since there are as you pointed out 2 seperate entities, sports clubs (private) and school districts, that the bill addresses it's saying private clubs should also be government regulated. If you don't see where that's a problem then you also don't see the already present problem of government over regulation.
If safety is really the concern here then don't play the sport or another option is that as a Democrat you feel something should be done then by all means be the first to have your kids ware safety helmets playing soccer like bicyclists, football players, skiers, wrestlers, motor cyclists, etc., etc. do.
Jennifer
9:51 pm on Sunday, March 11, 2012
Born Free...please, let's not obscure the issue! I agree that it should not presented in a partisan manner, by Rachel or by you. Our Certified Brain Injury Specialist is seeing a huge influx in calls from parents whose children have received head injuries (through automobile accidents AS WELL AS athletics) and, unfortunately, the significance of this issue flies so far under so many radars that very little is being done by schools (and, sadly, often by parents) to help these children. Regardless of which party a person supports, expecting an untrained coach to make a decision that could affect the rest of a child's life is unreasonable and dangerous.
Born Free
4:03 am on Monday, March 12, 2012
@Jennifer, don't skew the obvious. I didn't make it a partisan issue to begin with.
On another note the authors article suggests that parents aren't qualified to assess injuries yet apparently her neice's mother did in fact do so only hours later due to delayed symptoms that her daughter was having a problem (koddos for mom). Now since it's obvious the girl was doing headers as well as her other team mates and without incidents why in the world would anyone think that this particular child needed a medical exam right there on the field? Apparently the child showed no immediate cause for concern but then neither did the other kids at the time which means even a doctor wouldn't have had anything to check out if a doctor had been present at the practice. Did the mom fail? No. Did the coach fail? No. This example used by the author does nothing to support inditing parents and coaches for incompetence. It's a witch hunt!
Sensationalism? Compare apples to apples. An NFL player that suffers a concusion surely doesn't get one from a ball bouncing off his head. Yet another merit-less example offered by the author out on a witch hunt.
J. B. Schmidt
10:39 am on Monday, March 12, 2012
I read the article, Senate Bill 243 and the Amendment proposed by Galloway. I fail to see what the issue is. The state is giving the school boards the option of creating their own concussion policy. However, it states that it MUST include the following provisions:
2. Prohibit a participant who has been removed from a youth athletic activity
because he or she was suspected of suffering a concussion from returning to
participate in a youth athletic activity unless he or she receives written clearance to
do so from a physician and written approval from his or her parent of guardian.
I am in favor of this change. If anything it allows that school district to be more strict on the concussion issue. It doesn't remove the Doctor from the equation. While I don't question the authors intentions, as standing up for children is personal crusade of my own. I will call out the Journal for their piece of journalistic malpractice.
The coach in this blog was stupid or ignorant. However, the soccer mom in the story should have raised holy hell with the school and not waited for legislation. It is the role of the parent to keep coaches in check, not the government. If your child is in a contact sport, it is on the parent to also understand the warning signs.
http://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/2011/related/amendments/sb243/ssa2_sb243
http://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/2011/related/proposals/sb243
Rachel Holley Sciortino
3:14 pm on Monday, March 12, 2012
Wow, this is a great exchange! First, let me clarify - my only reason for stating the politicial affiliation of the lawmaker was to help readers who wished to take action learn which legislator to contact. I believe this issue should be apolitical. This is not about government overreach - but about who is best suited to evaluate invisible brain injury. And in my opinion it's not parents or coaches.
Thank you to J.B. for the clarification and the links - I look forward to further examining this issue.
Finally, the point of sharing my neice's story was mainly to illustrate that coaches MAY not be as aware as we would like about such dangers. Personally, if I were a coach I'd welcome a rule that allowed me to stay OUT of deciding whether a child should return to play -- especially since determined parents and kids can make it tough to hold your ground. Finally, in the case of my own son's concussion (obtained at church camp!) the most important piece was the doctor's advice about how long he needed to refrain from activity (ANY activity) before becoming active again -- and that could not have come from anyone but a doctor. Thanks everyone for your thoughtful opinions.
Peter Egan Jr.
7:21 pm on Tuesday, March 13, 2012
This one seems like a no-brainer to me.
Steve
11:52 pm on Monday, March 19, 2012
We should all just stay inside, the world is much too dangerous.