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Post by coachd5085 on Jan 1, 2008 21:25:35 GMT -6
Just watching the SugarBowl---UGA has a player who was benched after getting a concussion (I did not see the hit/injury). UH had a guy get knocked silly (from the TV few, it looked liked temporary loss of consciousness) and he is back in the game.
Scary stuff...
A buddy of mine did his masters thesis on head injuries, and after reading his work, it is frightening how many medical doctors who work the sidelines do NOT understand the neurology that is in play. The old concussion grading and return to play procedures are simply not effective....
really scary stuff.
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Post by coachjoe3 on Jan 2, 2008 16:40:47 GMT -6
I've heard in a Sport Sciences class that for every minute a player is knocked out, he sits for a week, no practice or contact and no PT in a game . . .
You're right, head injuries are pretty scary. All the talk about toughing out pain or fatigue goes right out the window when you talk about something that could potentially damage the brain. If he lost consciousness, he shouldn't have gone back in.
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Post by coachd5085 on Jan 2, 2008 18:41:58 GMT -6
I've heard in a Sport Sciences class that for every minute a player is knocked out, he sits for a week, no practice or contact and no PT in a game . . . You're right, head injuries are pretty scary. All the talk about toughing out pain or fatigue goes right out the window when you talk about something that could potentially damage the brain. If he lost consciousness, he shouldn't have gone back in. Well thats just the thing coach...the EXPERTS in the field are discovering that loss of consciousness is not one of the better indicators of return to play, and that players that have been asymptomatic for several weeks still test below their baseline on the IMPACT evaluations (a neurological exam that tests their functionality , decision making, etc. ) Unfortunately this expert information is often not the data/info that is being used in RTP (return to play) decisions. Head injury litigation could very well bring us back to the era where football was banned many places because it was too brutal. |
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Post by coachjoe3 on Jan 3, 2008 0:08:47 GMT -6
I've heard in a Sport Sciences class that for every minute a player is knocked out, he sits for a week, no practice or contact and no PT in a game . . . You're right, head injuries are pretty scary. All the talk about toughing out pain or fatigue goes right out the window when you talk about something that could potentially damage the brain. If he lost consciousness, he shouldn't have gone back in. Well thats just the thing coach...the EXPERTS in the field are discovering that loss of consciousness is not one of the better indicators of return to play, and that players that have been asymptomatic for several weeks still test below their baseline on the IMPACT evaluations (a neurological exam that tests their functionality , decision making, etc. ) Unfortunately this expert information is often not the data/info that is being used in RTP (return to play) decisions. Coach, Can you describe what the IMPACT evals are, like how the player is evaluated and what a doctor is looking for to determine when he is ready to play? I'm assuming these are done in a hospital/clinic and not by a trainer on the sidelines, right? Coaches, What are some of the guidelines you all use re: concussions to determine when a player is ready to get back on the field? I'd be interested in hearing some thoughts. |
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Post by coachd5085 on Jan 3, 2008 0:15:47 GMT -6
IMPACT eval link www.impacttest.com/A quick summary: ImPACT 2005 is a user-friendly, Windows-based computer program that can be administered by a team coach, athletic trainer or physician with minimal training. Reaction time is reliably measured to one hundredth of a second across individual test modules (10 modules total) and allows for an assessment of processing speed as the player fatigues. The test battery consists of a near infinite number of alternate forms by randomly varying the stimulus array for each administration. This feature was built in to the program to minimize the "practice effects" that have limited the usefulness of more traditional neurocognitive tests. ImPACT takes approximately 20 minutes to complete. The program measures multiple aspects of cognitive functioning in athletes, including: * Test Section 1: Subject Profile and Health History Questionnaire * Test Section 2: Current Symptoms and Conditions * Test Section 3: Neuropsychological Tests (Baseline and Post-Concussion) o Module 1 (Word Discrimination) o Module 2 (Design Memory) o Module 3 (X's and O's) o Module 4x (Visual Attention Span) ImPACT 1.0 only-This module has been removed for version 2.0. o Module 4 (Symbol Matching) o Module 5 (Color Match) o Module 6 (Three letters) * IV. Injury Description * V. Graphic Display of Data Basically... all student athletes take the test in preseason to get a baseline (non concussed) score which will be used as a tool to evaluate when the athlete should "return to play" Some other data that came out in my friends study was that teams that practiced physically late in the year sustained more concussions (obviously, since there are more hits) BUT also had more in game concussions than those schools that slacked off on the hitting around week 6 or 7. |
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Post by coachjoe3 on Jan 3, 2008 0:23:00 GMT -6
Thanks for the link, coach!
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