Tag: Brain Injuries in Sports

The Board of Directors of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) approved a statement earlier this month which was proposed by the Academy’s Sports Neurology Section. The statement called for athletes who are suspected of sustaining a concussion to be removed from play until they have been evaluated by a physician who has been trained in the evaluation and management of sports concussions. This is just one part of the Academy’s recent requests which targets the policymakers who are responsible for determining the procedures used when an athlete suffers from a sports-related concussion.

The recent rise in concussions sustained in the NFL this season has brought to light a lot of questions, and criticism, when it comes to the safety requirements of helmets. One of the more troubling issues is that helmets worn by players in the NFL are not held to a national safety standard in regards to concussion prevention.

The Why Files, a non-profit science news website published by the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has just published an article on traumatic brain injuries (TBI) and emerging TBI treatments. The article discusses the recent effects TBIs have had on people across the country including NFL players, a University of Pennsylvania football player who committed suicide at age 21 due to brain damage linked to depression and suicide in veteran pro footballers, and an estimated 300,000 American veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan who have suffered brain injuries.

Since the beginning of the season, the Philadelphia Eagles have played four games. And since the beginning of the season, the Philadelphia Eagles players have suffered four concussions. The most recent injuries came in last week’s game against the Washington Redskins when wide receiver Riley Cooper and cornerback Asante Samuel both suffered concussions.

Every Monday morning, the sports pages around the country are filled with stories reporting on the number of sport concussions (traumatic brain injuries) that took a toll on professional football fields the day before. Two weeks ago, within minutes, Eagle quarterback Kevin Cobb and Eagle linebacker Stewart Bradley sustained brain injuries. The public is becoming aware of this medical epidemic in professional sports.

Though most people are aware of the dangers associated with traumatic brain injuries in football, few know of the dangers basketball pose to a child’s health. An article on CNN states that between 1997 and 2007 the number of basketball related traumatic brain injuries in people under the age of 20 increased by 70%, according to a study published in the journal Pediatrics. Additionally, the number of brain injuries in boys doubled, while the number of brain injuries in girls nearly tripled.

A recent article in the journal Pediatrics reported on new data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System which found that from 1997 through 2007 emergency room visits for children between the ages and 8 and 13 with a diagnosis of concussion more than doubled while youths aged between 14 and 19 tripled during this ten year period. The study also found that approximately 50% of all emergency room visits where the treatment and diagnosis of concussions were sports related.