New Rules on Concussions for School Athletes
Saturday, August 28, 2010
The burden of protecting student athletes from concussions now falls firmly on schools and coaches according to a new state law that takes effect this year.
The law, which applies to schools that are members of the Rhode Island Interscholastic League, bans players who exhibit the symptoms of a concussion from returning to a game or playing in the future—until they get a written note from doctors.
Under the new rules, coaches, trainers, and volunteers in school sports must attend a course on brain injuries, so they can better recognize the signs of a concussion during a game.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTIn addition to having a coach on the sidelines, the law encourages schools to have an athletic trainer at games who can look out for players who have concussions. “The coach is coaching the game,” said state Senator Walter Felag, D-Warren, the lead sponsor of the bill. “If somebody gets hit and has issues then there should be an athletic trainer on the sidelines to handle the issue.”
Student athletes who continue to play are at risk of what is called Second-Impact Syndrome, a condition that can lead to rapid swelling of the brain and is potentially fatal. Virtually all of the reported cases of Second-Impact Syndrome are among adolescent athletes, according to a report from the Rhode Island Interscholastic League.
According to the Rhode Island Department of Health, striking or getting hit by an object is the cause of 33 percent of the traumatic brain injuries in children ages 6 to 18. Specifically, 14 percent of these incidents were sports-related.
Another key recommendation of the law is that all student athletes get a baseline test of their cognitive functions before the start of every sports season. Then, if a student gets a concussion, doctors and parents can get a better handle on how seriously it has affected his cognitive abilities.
That baseline test would certainly have made a difference for his son Zeke, Felag said. “I didn’t have that afforded to me,” Felag said. His son suffered two concussions - one in last August and another in October - preventing him from finishing his last season as a football player at the Mount Hope High School.
“After the second concussion you have nothing to go by other than what a parent has observed over time as to whether he is recovering or not,” Felag said.
He recalls taking his son to see a neurologist after the second injury. “The neurologist said, ‘Where’s you’re baseline test? Where were you prior to the second concussion?’”
Felag said the Hasbro Children’s Hospital is paying for baseline tests for student athletes this year. After that, he wants to return to the Senate and pass another law, requiring—rather than merely recommending—the baseline tests, since school districts would only have to pay for tests for freshmen and transfer students.
For more information on concussions and student athletes, click here and here.
