BIA NJ Establishes Concussion in Sports Committee
In prior blog postings, I have commented on the epidemic of individuals suffering concussions in sports. I was delighted to see that the Brain Injury Association of New Jersey this year established the “Concussion in Sports Committee” to address the problem of frequently overlooked concussions in sports. As its first project, the Committee developed a concussion in sports consensus statement. At present, the Committee and Association are reaching out to sports organizers and related organizations state-wide to endorse the statement and to join in recognizing that concussion is a brain injury and should be taken seriously. On February 24, 2006, the Association will be sponsoring a “Concussion in Sports Summit”. To find out how your sports or related organization can get involved in the concussion in sports campaign, Joanna Boyd should be contacted at (732) 738-1002 or jboyd@bianj.org. To learn more about concussions or request materials and resources on concussion in sports, visit the website or call the Association at the above phone number. While on the subject of concussion in sports, I read an interesting article in the Houston Chronicle (October 15, 2005). The article highlighted a five-year study sponsored by grants from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention using the Head Impact Telemetry system to study concussions. Players from the University of North Carolina, Virginia Tech and Oklahoma will be using the system to measure the forces applied to the players’ head and brain. According to the article, six tiny censure chips called accelerometers are embedded in the padding of a helmet which measure the acceleration and deceleration of the head to determine the location and magnitude of any impact. A radio embedded in the helmet sends the information to a sideline unit, where a laptop computer analyzes and saves the data. The article can be found here.