While concussion is in no way a political issue, this week it found its way to the White House. As I write this, President Barack Obama is hosting the White House Healthy Kids and Safe Sports Concussion Summit, packing attendants that include representatives of professional sports organizations, coaches, parents, young athletes and researchers. The goal is to take concussion seriously as a youth health issue, and raise both awareness and funding for education and research.
Already, heavy hitters are on board. The NFL is committing $25 million to promote youth sports safety. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is taking on new research to look at the effects of repetitive concussions. And UCLA was given $10 million from the owner of the New York Giants to study sports concussion prevention, research and treatment. .
The attention and the resources likely to come from the event in Washington could begin a national momentum, one that provides greater understanding of concussions and a targeted approach to learning more about sports safety issues in young athletes.
Every year, some 250,000 young people wind up at emergency rooms due to head injuries caused by sports. And that doesn’t include those seen at clinics. Here in San Antonio, at Impact Urgent Care, I regularly see young patients with concussions. Head injuries are far more prevalent than many people realize, and also more dangerous than people believe. The more we know as doctors, parents, athletic leaders and even young players themselves, the safer they’ll be. Speaking of safety, I think it is safe to say that the days of looking at head injuries as “bell ringers” are gone. Concussions are serious injuries; they can even be life threatening.
As we begin to increase our awareness and national dialogue about this critical health issue, I want to encourage parents of young athletes to consider ImPACT Neurocognitive Baseline Testing. This simple and noninvasive test prior to injury is extremely helpful in diagnosing and treating head injuries should they occur.