The Impact of Impacts
Participating in contact sports comes with the risk of mild
traumatic brain injury, commonly known as a concussion. The growing controversy
of concussions in contact sports has expanded into a national concern. A lot of
concern comes from second impact syndrome: “when an individual who has had one
head injury receives a second head injury before the brain has recovered from
the first head injury, the second injury is often called ‘second impact’. If
the individual continues with their activity while concussed and sustains the
second impact, the effect is often fatal. If the results are not fatal, the
individual would be severely disabled.
With the absence of evidence-based data to diagnose a
concussion, it is extremely difficult for the sports medicine staff to make
decisions about traumatic brain injuries. If there is no definitive information
to diagnose a first concussion, the likelihood of preventing second impact
syndrome is low. Athletes’ lives should not lie on the low reliability of
self-reporting and subjective tests.
When an athlete sustains a suspected concussion, a sideline
evaluation is conducted. The athlete is then instructed to take a neuropsychological
assessment, such as imPACT, SCAT, or CogSport. These results are compared to a
baseline test that the athletes took pre-injury before the sports season. Many
athletic organizations, especially high-schools, require this baseline testing
at the start of the season so that test results can be compared to the post
injury results.
Many concussions tend to be unreported or unrecognized
because of the number of athletes to look after and the heightened pressures to
“suck it up” and stay in the game. This issue is extremely important for our
world in 2014 because of the emphasis on sports in today’s society. Individuals
are starting sports earlier than ever before and the mentality to “push through
the pain” is widely expected. This issue is important to discuss in order to
spread awareness of the dangers of concussion and the significance of reporting
injuries.
Multiple concussions and second-impact syndrome are
dangerous injuries in the world of contact sports. It is important to spread
awareness of these dangers to ensure the safety of athletes everywhere. When
athletes are aware of the dangers, they are more likely to report their
injuries. Many high-schools are implementing concussion education programs that
require completion by the athletes as well as their parents before
authorization to participate in sport. This will certify that the parents will
know the symptoms of a concussion to make a better likelihood of nothing
missed. Also, new technology is being
created and perfected that involves the use of accelerometers in helmets. This
technology has been created to get more information on concussions immediately
after they have occurred. Impact sensors have been an increasingly popular
invention in the sports field to detect concussions instantly.
These sensors have been tested in a number of locations on
sports equipment. Prototypes that are being used in sports today include helmet
sensors, attachable sensors, chinstrap sensors, and even sensors built into
mouthguards. This means of impact sensing technology measures gravitational
force and records other information, such as where the impact was located, and
reports this information to a central database. A computer that stores all of
the data will be located on the sidelines which would be accessible to the
sports medicine team. An alarm will activate if a force from impact is detected
and is considered dangerous enough to permit medical attention. This detection
prevents athletes from playing with a concussion and keeps individuals from
risk of further injury or death. Impact sensing technology can potentially
assist with identifying dangerous head impacts and prevent athletes from
putting themselves at a greater risk by continuing to participate after
concussion.
We all must understand the importance of a definitive diagnosis of concussions.
Signs, symptoms, and more information on concussions can be
found at:
Information on Impact Sensing Technology:
posted by Unknown @ 2:11 AM
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