Football icon Mike Ditka thinks concussions are enough of an epidemic to steer our children toward another, less dangerous sport.
“Well, let’s say you’re a father right now, and you’ve got a [young] kid. So what do you tell them?” Ditka said. “People ask me the question. I would never discourage my son from playing football or baseball or anything else, but I would probably say ‘Hey, listen, you ought to try golf.’ Seriously. And I think that’s what’s going to happen to a degree. And that’s just the way it’s going to be.”
When I read this, I was floored. The almighty Ditka, of all people, who served as a symbol of tough, hard-nosed attitude during his time as a player and coach, is encouraging us to keep our kids away from the very sport he holds dear? How could this possibly be? But that’s when I bluntly realized the critical difference between being tough and smart vs. tough and irresponsible.
As parents, one of the many, many challenges we face is enabling our children to enjoy life without seriously hurting themselves or others. In fact, as a general statement, that could be considered the greatest challenge of all. And the more physical a sport they play, the higher the likelihood of a serious injury occurring.
Due to the attention CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) has garnered in the news the past several years, brain health has become notably more prioritized by sports organizations like the NFL. That got me thinking about how we can do our part to avoid or identify brain injuries when they happen in youth sports. For a more informed discussion, I called upon Dr. Todd Arnold of St. Vincent Sports Performance, who works closely with professional, collegiate, and Olympics athletes across all sports, and who sees roughly 400 new concussion patients each year.
Q) What sort of “hits” or “impacts” should I look for when my child is playing sports as a warning sign they may have a concussion?
Dr. Arnold: Not every collision or contact to the head results in a concussion. I think the type of impact that is most notable is the one the athlete was not expecting. An example would be if they were looking down the field of play and were hit from the side or they are taken to the ground and hit on the ground without being able to defend themselves with their hands.
This unexpected blow can shake the brain hard enough to create the trauma. Remember, it doesn’t always take a direct blow to the head to create the injury. Rapid side to side or rotational movement of the head can result in a concussion, too.
Q) What are the symptoms of a concussion that I should be on the lookout for after sporting events?
Dr. Arnold: The signs and symptoms of a brain injury are incredibly variable. Just think about the complexity of the brain. Typical symptoms include headache, dizziness, fatigue, disorientation and difficulty with memory. Signs you may notice as a parent might include your athlete being slower to respond to questions, slower doing homework, fatigue in the face of sleeping more than usual and even irritability. A great resource to look at is the CDC website.
Q) Are there immediate steps I should take if I think my child has a concussion?
Dr. Arnold: I always tell my parents of injured athletes that if they are concerned by what they see, take them now to be seen. Even if that means a visit to the emergency room. The parents know their child well, and if they are concerned, I am concerned. Once my athletes are home with their family, these are some signs and symptoms that would worry me enough to get them back out of the house to be seen late at night: headaches that continue to get worse, decreased coordination, vomiting, altered speech, no longer arousable, seizure activity or have witnessed loss of consciousness.
Q) If my child does get a concussion, how worried should I be and how long will it take them to recover?
Dr. Arnold: As a parent, I want you to take a brain injury earnestly. That does not mean worry, but it does mean take it seriously. I often teach that we are quick to take our injured athletes to the clinic if they have an ankle injury so it can be managed appropriately, this injury is equally or more important since it involves the most important organ in our body. Have the injury evaluated by a clinician with expertise in concussion management so the injury can be managed and a safe return to play protocol can be arranged.
The amount of time for recovery is too variable to offer a simple answer. In general, younger athletes take longer to resolve than older athletes. Whereas an adult athlete may take several days to resolve, a freshman in high school may take three or four weeks to resolve and return to sport. There is some research that shows certain symptoms such as dizziness and previous conditions, like being a headache sufferer, generate longer recovery on average as well. The type of injury can also alter recovery, think rotational versus direct blow.
Q) How important is it to understand what a concussion really is?
Dr. Arnold: To understand what a concussion is, let’s first talk about what it is not. It is not bleeding in the brain. It is not swelling or presence of a bruise. Those things can happen with trauma to the brain but are treated differently than a concussion without those additional injuries.
A concussion is really a chemical injury. When the brain is injured, the individual neurons are stimulated indiscriminately to release neurotransmitters. These are chemicals the brain uses to communicate information from one cell to another. When this is released without control, it generates the symptoms you see as a parent and the athlete can sense. The nerves very much want to correct this problem and work very hard to stop the release, but this is a very heavy burden on the brain which requires significant energy. Since this injury is at the chemical level it is not available on standard medical testing like a CT or MRI scan.
Tying It All Together...
I hope you come away from this feeling informed and prepared rather than canceling your child’s soccer registration to enroll him or her in the chess club. Kids are going to get hurt. It’s not just likely, it’s inevitable. And it’s on us as parents to educate ourselves to know when we’re simply being nervous parents vs. when there’s something to really worry about.
As an aside, if you’re an NFL fan, I highly recommend giving ESPN’s Stephania Bell a Twitter follow. She regularly provides insight on athlete injuries, including concussions. She can be found @Stephania_ESPN.
I can be found on Twitter for comments/story ideas @JoeDeProspero.