Base line testing for concussions has given trainers an extra tool.
By Dave Conard Sports Editor, Coatesvilletimes.com
WEST CHESTER–No matter what sport an adolescent chooses to participate in, football, baseball, soccer, hockey, basketball and even gymnastics, it seems that parents are all in the same boat when it comes to their primary concern when allowing their child to participate in extra circulars.
What happens if my child gets hurt?
Injuries are part of any sports or activity; it’s just simply impossible to avoid it.
Perhaps the most frightening all injuries are the ones you can’t physically see, yet they effect the most vital of all body parts, the brain.
Concussions, unlike a broken leg or arm or even the swelling of a severe bruise, can not be diagnosed in depth from a superficial examination, it takes much more to properly evaluate the severity of the cause of more than 15 % of all sports injuries.
There are between an estimated 1.6 and 3.8 million sports-related concussions in the United States every year, leading The Centers for Disease Control (C.D.C.) to conclude that sports concussions in the United States have reached an “epidemic level.”
According to the C.D.C., during the period 2001-2009 children and youth ages 5-18 years increased 62% to a total of 2.6 million sports-related emergency department (ED) visits annually, of which 6.5% (173,285) involved a traumatic brain injury, including concussion.
With the upcoming football season rapidly approaching it seems only prudent to mention the fact that at least one player sustains a mild concussion in nearly every American football game and there are approximately 67,000 diagnosed concussions in high school football every year.
According to research by The New York Times, at least 50 youth football players (high school or younger) from 20 different states have died or sustained serious head injuries on the field since 1997.
Even more alarming is the fact that there is an unacceptably high percentage (39%) of high school and collegiate football players suffering catastrophic head injuries (death, nonfatal but causing permanent neurological functional disability and serious injury but leaving no permanent functional disability) during the period 1989 to 2002 were still playing with neurological symptoms at the time of the catastrophic event.
So what can a parent possibly do to stop, prevent or even more importantly, know whether or not their son or daughter has fully recovered a concussion they have suffered already?
Before you go to withdraw your son or daughter from their favorite fall sport, there is hope from an increasingly available source to determine whether or not they have been a victim of the number one sports injury culprit.
Imagine taking a trip to shore and trying to determine how long it would take without knowing where the journey would begin.
As serious as head injuries are, in the past few years that is eerily how a lot of post head trauma cases have been treated due to limited pre injury data making a prognosis difficult.
New technology is now available to battle back against one of the biggest foes, that wears neither a jersey or occupies the other locker room.
ImPACT base line testing has become an invaluable tool in assisting the medical community in determining whether or not a concussion had occurred or the severity of it.
Simply put, ImPACT testing is a series of test that are done to get a, for lack of a better word, base line or “starting point” which is extremely useful in determining how severe the injury was or if they have full recovered.
Concussion experts across the nation are recommending annual testing of young athletes for what is now being recognized as a very serious injury in any contact sport.
In a joint effort Dr. Bonnie Nye and Kinetic Physical Therapy located in Chester Springs and Eagle will be making ImPACT base line testing available for young athletes 11-21 during the month of August.
Testing will be done at their office at 163 Pottstown Pike, Chester Springs under the auspices of Dr. Nye and her staff.
Dr. Nye is regionally known for her expertise in the care of sports concussion and has been a certified ImPACT consultant for seven years.
Cost is only $25.00 per athlete and testing should be done at a date and time that insures the athlete be well rested.
