Highlights from the White House Youth Concussion Summit As a Sports Medicine practice, M.O.S.T. knows the seriousness of concussions from the youth recreation to professional sports level. Concussions can be life-threatening injuries with the potential to cause loss of consciousness, long-term memory loss, vision problems, seizures, and a host of other brain injuries. Concussions have been a hot-topic in the news lately as well, finally getting the attention they deserve with many ex-NFL players coming out and speaking of the physical and emotional challenges they suffer from due to concussions. As we know at M.O.S.T., concussions are just as dire and common in youth athletics. In fact, nearly 250,000 adolescents visit hospital emergency rooms each year with brain injuries caused by sports or other recreational activity. Following suit, on Thursday President Obama will host a Youth Concussion Summit where he is set to bring in representatives from professional sports leagues, coaches, parents, youth sports players and researchers to help educate the public about youth sports concussions and encourage that more is done to learn about the side effects of head injuries in young athletes. Here are some highlights as to what the will be announced and discussed at the Summit: • The NCAA and the Defense Department are launching a $30 million effort to produce research on concussion risks, treatment and management. • The National Football League is committing $25 million over the next three years on promoting youth sports safety, including support for new pilot programs to put more athletic trainers in schools. • The National Institutes of Health will undertake a new research effort on the chronic effects of repetitive concussions, work supported by the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health through an initial investment of $16 million from the NFL. • With a $10 million investment from New York Giants co-owner Steve Tisch, UCLA will launch the UCLA Steve Tisch BrainSPORT Program to target sports concussion prevention, outreach, research and treatment for athletes of all ages, especially youth. The money will also support planning for a national system to determine the incidence of youth sports concussions. o In sum: many organizations are committing financially to supports research and data collections on the effects and treatment of concussions. • Safe Kids Worldwide, in partnership with Johnson & Johnson, will host more than 200 sports safety clinics for parents, coaches and young athletes across the country, including education on concussions. The Brain Injury Association of America, in collaboration with SAP, will build an online application to help students, parents and educators better understand when to return to class after a concussion. • USA Cheer will unveil a new Head Injury Protocol to more than 300,000 cheerleaders and their coaches this summer to teach them how to prevent, identify and seek treatment for suspected head injuries. Updated cheerleading guidelines designed to reduce head injuries also will be released. • The CDC will promote use of a new app to help parents learn how to recognize concussion symptoms and what to do if they think their child has a concussion. • U.S. Soccer will employ a chief medical officer to work with the medical community and experts in the field of concussion management and prevention. o In sum: steps are being taken in the sports and youth recreation community to promote education and awareness of head injuries. At most, one of our own Physical Therapists Zach Delgado, is a concussion specialist and concussion management expert. He runs ImPACT Test at M.O.S.T. which is a sophisticated software program developed to help sports-medicine clinicians evaluate recovery following a concussion. ImPACT is a computer test that evaluates multiple aspects of neuro-cognitive functioning including memory, brain processing speed, reaction time, and post- concussive symptoms. For more information on IMPACT Test and how M.O.S.T. can help you manage a concussion check out our web-site: mostsportsmedicine.net/concussion-management/
Posted on: Thu, 29 May 2014 17:34:50 +0000