The Lantern is running a three-part series on concussions spanning the next three days. Today’s story is about prevention. Part two focuses on treatment and part three on Second Impact Syndrome.
The 15-ounce ball crashed into Max Stearns’ face, knocking his head back and rocking his skull. Almost immediately he began to feel dizzy and disoriented.
Stearns had been sprinting toward a free ball while playing in a friendly soccer game as preparation for the upcoming fencing season. But a teammate beat him to the spot and blasted the ball in his direction.
“I knew where I was, but you feel like everything is going on around you and you’re not really a part of it, you’re just kind of on your own,” said Stearns, a third-year at Ohio State.
That was Oct. 5, 2009. By May, Stearns had his second concussion. That one also involved a soccer ball smashing into the side of his head.
“It was a less dramatic collision, but because I’d had that other concussion already, my head was more susceptible to having another,” Stearns said.
Although national media have latched onto recent concussions among professional football players, doctors warn that all athletes are suscebtible to head injuries.
“I have some pediatric patients as young as 7 with concussions and I’ve had adult patients as old as 85,” said Kelsey Logan, medical director of the OSU Sports Concussion Program and an assistant professor of internal medicine and pediatrics at OSU.
Rather than treating concussions, which can cause serious long-term problems, doctors would rather see athletes avoid head trauma altogether. One of the best ways to do that, some say, is to wear safer, more-modern equipment.
“I think proper equipment when you’re referring to football is imperative,” said Richard Rodenberg, a physician at OSU and Nationwide Children’s Sports Medicine. “They have to be proper-fitting.”
The majority of football helmets used on the professional and collegiate levels are built and sold by Riddell. The Buckeyes, among other college football programs, use the Riddell Revolution helmets. The company has recently been monitoring several injury-reporting databases.
“Laboratory recreations of on-field collisions, analysis of player injury data, rigorous laboratory testing of helmet design iterations, and field testing with feedback from players, coaches and medical staff are all part of developing more protective helmets,” said Thad Ide, vice president of research and development for Elyria, Ohio-based Riddell, in an e-mail.
Rodenberg said some coaches use the equipment wrong, eliminating the benefits of the technology.
“They have these new air bladder helmets, and some of the coaches will pump them up as rock-solid so they can get them to fit the kids,” Rodenberg said. “It defeats the purpose of that air bladder. It’s supposed to cushion, not be rock-solid, so proper-fitting equipment is imperative.”
Along with officials at the National Football League — who declared last week that players can be suspended for helmet-to-helmet hits — others in sports medicine are urging game officials to crack down on dangerous plays.
“With head-to-head contact, we work with the officials, and there’s a lot of that being emphasized this year on those types of hits,” said Doug Calland, head athletic trainer at OSU and head football athletic trainer. “You probably noticed that they tend to call those penalties much more quickly than they have in the past.”
Another potential safety net involves proper training and coaching techniques.
“It has absolutely been proven that skill level can help to decrease the risk of certain injuries, and concussions are one of them,” Logan said. “The lower-skilled athletes tend to be at higher risk for concussions. So we need to make sure that the athletes are ready to play their position, whatever it is in whatever sport, and that they are ready for whatever comes.”
The Ohio High School Athletic Association is also working to prevent head injuries. This season, the association implemented the policies of the National Federation of State High School Associations. Anyone with concussion symptoms is required to leave games immediately and must be cleared by a doctor before playing again.
Although the association bears responsibility for protecting local athletes, some members of Congress are fighting for protection on a national level. One leader in that effort is Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., who introduced the Protecting Student Athletes from Concussions Act, which the NFL endorsed.
Miller is the chairman of the Education and Labor Committee. Aaron Albright, deputy communications director for the Education and Labor committee, said the bill is modeled after recent laws passed in Washington, Oregon and other states to reduce the risk of concussions in youth sports.
“The bill would help make sports safer for student athletes by asking school districts to implement a concussion safety and management plan,” Albright said in an e-mail.
The bill is intended to change sports culture by informing people of the dangers associated with concussions.
“The legislation aims to educate students, parents and school personnel about the dangers of concussions and how to recognize the injury,” Albright said. “Too often, athletes don’t recognize concussions for the serious brain injuries they are.”
Still, football tends to breed a “tough guy” mantra that encourages players to play through the pain and keep injury symptoms to themselves.
“Back in the day, those of us that played, when we got concussions we called them dings,” said Gene Smith, associate vice president and director of athletics at OSU. “We would shake it off, go back in and play.
“I had two in my life. I remember them specifically, and I know there are guys who had more than that. So when they’re 60, 70 years old I think they’re going to have problems. So I’m glad that someone’s (the NFL) doing something about it.”
Players who stay in the game after head hits “worry me the most,” Smith said. “Guys who get knocked out, they’re easy. We know we can take them out, and they’re done. It’s those ones that get that kind of foggy concussion. They know enough to not come out. That scares me.”
The ruling from the NFL last week has upset players across the league. Buckeye wide receiver Dane Sanzenbacher, who suffered a concussion in a 2008 contest against Wisconsin, understands where the frustration comes from.
“Obviously from my perspective, I mean I’m all about protecting defenseless players,” Sanzenbacher said. “But at the same time, the league asks you, and I guess in college they ask you too, hit them hard but don’t hurt them. So where is the line drawn?”
Suspensions might help deter athletes from head hunting, but Calland said the best defense involves teaching student athletes about the dangers of a concussion.
“Education is probably the best prevention method,” he said. “We’ve met with virtually all of our student athletes. That’s probably been the biggest help in this area.”
Stearns has since returned to the fencing team, competing in both the NCAA Tournament and international competition. But he isn’t out of the woods yet.
“Every once in a while, I’ll still feel something,” he said. “Whenever I have (that feeling), it’s suggested that I take a break and let myself rest.”
