It seems like concussions have been everywhere in the news lately.
From NFL football, to national car commercials, all the way down to high school sports, properly diagnosing and treating concussions is big news.
While everyone seems to agree that concussions must be taken seriously, there does not appear to be much consensus on the best way to evaluate concussions or reduce the risk of subsequent concussions going forward.
Researchers at the American Association of Neurosurgeons found that every season 20 per cent of high school football players are concussed.
A Canadian study on the rate of concussions in youth league ice hockey is perhaps more troubling.
Physicians watched hockey 52 games and tallied 21 separate concussions during that stretch; more alarming was the 29 per cent who went on to suffer a subsequent concussion.
It is that 2nd (or 3rd or 4th) concussion that is the most worrisome and by far the most hazardous.
Most professionals agree that the chances of suffering an additional concussion is much higher for the previously concussed.
One high school trainer explained, "One of the big things we don't want is called second impact.
They go back out there with a concussion that's not healed and they have a neurological problem that's a permanent kind of thing.
" Concussions are not actually caused by direct contact in the form of the striking impact, but rather from the resulting whiplash of the contact, the brain bruising as it collides with the skull.
Dr.
Ned Amendola, the University of Iowa's football team physician and consultant to the NHL Players Association, believes essentially, "The brain needs a period of time to recover from a concussion.
" Pop Warner, the country's oldest and largest youth football organization, now requires a note from a doctor clearing any participant who has suffered a head injury before they are allowed back on the field.
But what that time period should be is up for debate.
It is this grey area that causes confusion for schools, parents, even the doctors themselves says one Louisville accident attorney.
Doctors not fully aware of past concussion history because of past improper diagnoses, put players and children at risk.
A Louisville personal injury attorney gives an account from nearby Kansas City of a high school football player who hit his head, was diagnosed with a concussion, was allowed to play the following week after seeing a doctor, and sadly passed away after once again leaving the game.
The physician had the injured undergo a CT scan, but failed to notice symptoms of a subdural hematoma, an uncommon but deadly brain injury that ultimately proved fatal.
The attorney handled a similar lawsuit against a hospital in Kentucky.
Without a proper consensus on the best way to identify and accurately assess concussions, parents are putting too much faith in their local schools approach to concussion treatment states a Louisville personal injury attorney.
Thomas Martin, Director of Adult Neuropsychology at the University of Missouri and President of the Brain Injury Association of Missouri, says "I think right now there's a large variation of how coaches, school districts and administrators approach this and some area schools are much more aware of the literature and are moving in the right direction, and other areas not so much.
" So take a long hard look at your school district's approach to concussions before allowing your child to get involved with local contact sports.
You could be putting their life in less than capable hands.