Concussions caused by a series of hits, findings suggest

I came across an article today that had a lot of impact on me.  Testing on football players suggests that concussion really happen as a result cumulative blows to the head, not just one hit.

There is a link below to the article, which I highly suggest as a read.  But I wanted to take a minute to talk about what I feel is most important here...


the safety of the athlete.

There is an old proverb that says, "with the increase of knowledge comes the increase of sorrow."

I think that one of the applications of this proverb really comes when you realize that once you know something, you have to do something about it.

Concussion laws have taken the first step in protecting our athletes.  And they took that step based on the information they had.

But now there is more information.  Information that shows that concussions are cumulative. 

And the scariest thing is this comment take from the article,

"Most clinicians would say that if you don't have any concussion symptoms you have no problems," said Larry Leverenz, an expert in athletic training and a clinical professor of health and kinesiology. "However, we are finding that there is actually a lot of change, even when you don't have symptoms."

Even when they don't have symptoms.

Maybe the concussion laws have not gone far enough.  Maybe there needs to be some way to mandate testing that will be predictive during the season.  Why?

Because it would appear that the findings of the report would suggest that alot more athletes have concussions than we can see.  But these concussions are just not as well developed.

Trainers... nurses... coaches... it looks like you need to be keeping a sharper eye... one that can see things that don't show up in tests.

Here is the link to the article.  Please share it with anyone involved in or associated with high school atheltics.