{"id":1397,"date":"2013-03-17T11:53:49","date_gmt":"2013-03-17T16:53:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nflconcussionlitigation.com\/?p=1397"},"modified":"2013-03-17T11:53:49","modified_gmt":"2013-03-17T16:53:49","slug":"guest-post-parents-hold-the-key-to-concussion-awareness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nflconcussionlitigation.com\/?p=1397","title":{"rendered":"Guest Post: Parents Hold the Key to Concussion Awareness"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Brittany Beaumont<\/strong><\/p>\n

It takes less than ten minutes to reach pages eleven and twelve of Concussions and our Kids<\/i> where just four convincing paragraphs serve as a wakeup call for any parent who has a child participating in youth sports. Written by Robert Cantu, M.D. and Mark Hyman (2012), this book presents solid documentation that concussions (especially multiple concussions or head injuries\/trauma) should be taken seriously by parents and coaches alike. However, it appears the words from these esteemed authors are still falling on deaf ears. Not enough has been written to convince those, especially parents of aspiring young football players that it is time for the nation to wake up and demand that those in charge of full contact youth sports be held accountable for their lack of action (or reaction as the case may be) whenever a child is involved in a head injury. Time has run out for local, state, and national organizations who are responsible for promoting youth sports in America to enact simple regulations that will prevent many, if not the majority, of concussions that occur each spring and fall particularly in youth football.\u00a0 It is time for parents to put the safety and long term health of children ages five to fourteen as a priority and demand changes for youth football.<\/p>\n

In an article by James Swift (2012), Is the Gridiron Too Dangerous For Children? Experts Address Youth Football Safety, <\/i>he includes the following, \u201cWhile the National Football League (NFL) has made several sweeping changes to its player safety regulations over the last decade, Dr. Cantu said those standards aren\u2019t being replicated in youth football\u201d (Swift, 2012). In fact, the NFL\u2019s Commissioner, Roger Goodell, in his recent state of the NFL annual address in New Orleans prior to Super Bowl XLVII, commented on remarks made by President Barack Obama who indicated he would not allow his own children to play youth football if he had sons (The Miami Herald<\/i>, 2013). Goodell noted that, \u201che welcomed recent comments by President Barack Obama about football safety, and said there are constant improvements constantly in treating head injuries. He said the game can be made safer while making football better\u201d (The Miami Herald<\/i>, 2013). Goodell \u201cwelcomes\u201d the statements; but what has he done to help promote change for those youth football players that may one day ascend to the professional level?\u00a0 Can we assume the ratio of those innocent young athletes who start out at age four or five that actually make it to the professional level is so miniscule that it is not an important topic on his agenda?\u00a0 Perhaps that is the reason for his lack of reaction to even our President\u2019s obvious concern.\u00a0 But surely there is someone in the rich and powerful NFL who can see the need to take advantage of the resources that organization has to reach out to almost anyone with an interest in football \u2013 especially those na\u00efve and uninformed parents of young football hopefuls?<\/p>\n

Take for example the shot after shot during the coverage of Super Bowl XLVII of Goodell sitting with the young nine year old girl who acclaimed national attention when her video was uploaded to YouTube playing football against nine-year-old boys in a pee-wee football league.\u00a0 Evidently she must have made those other nine-year-old boys looks pretty bad as she has been called a \u201cfootball phenomenon\u201d (Carson, 2013). Goodell has treated her to a few other NFL games this season touting her as an inspiration for girls to play football.\u00a0 Imagine the coverage he could amass if he had also entertained a young football player of about ten years old who had been the victim of multiple head injuries? What a warning statement that could have made at this week\u2019s Super Bowl \u2013 especially if the announcers chimed in with words of warning to parents to watch for signs of concussions.<\/p>\n

But instead of relying on announcers and Goodell to be held accountable for the lack of regulations in pee-wee and youth football leagues across the country, parents may ultimately be the ones who have to signal change.<\/p>\n

And here are the reasons why:\u00a0 (1) According to the Mayo Clinic, \u201cYour brain has the consistency of gelatin. It’s cushioned from everyday jolts and bumps by the cerebrospinal fluid that it floats in, inside your skull. A violent blow to your head and neck or upper body can cause your brain to slide back and forth forcefully against the inner wall of your skull\u201d (Mayo Clinic Staff, 2011).\u00a0 Not to oversimplify this definition but a parent can relate to gelatin, right? (2) According to Cantu and Hyman (2012), \u201cConcussions also trigger a complicated chain of chemical and metabolic reactions, which are known as the neurometabolilc cascade of concussion.\u00a0 This process confuses the brain, throwing off its ability to regulate, to transmit signals, and to send messages that control how we think and what we remember\u201d (p. 6).\u00a0 After a concussion, regardless of the severity, a parent needs to watch for those symptoms notifying teachers as well.<\/p>\n

In my home state of Georgia, an end of course test is required in all grade levels and if a student does not pass in grades 3, 5 and 8 s\/he is not allowed to move to the next grade level even if he has maintained an \u201cA\u201d average all year.\u00a0 With high stakes testing, parents need the knowledge to understand the importance of notifying educators if his child has suffered any type of bump to the head. \u00a0Here is another example and although it depicts an older teenage soccer player, it is relevant to this discussion.\u00a0 A personal friend could not spell bus for three days after a concussion on the soccer field a week before her state mandated high school graduation test.\u00a0 Fortunately for her, one could say, her concussion caused her to black out momentarily just before halftime.\u00a0 She kept playing but after five minutes at halftime, she could not remember her name and was sent via helicopter to the hospital. \u00a0She received a medical excuse so she did not have to take the graduation test until she had fully recovered. Since very few make it to the big leagues to play professional ball, academics should come first and even a slight concussion could cause havoc in the classroom especially during testing. You cannot expect an eight-year-old boy to explain to his teacher why he was not feeling \u201cright\u201d, could you?\u00a0 The teacher would probably assume the child just wanted to go home to avoid taking the test.<\/p>\n

That task to inform teachers and all other caregivers would be the responsibility of an informed and caring parent.\u00a0 (3) Cantu and Hyman (2012) also write that players as young as five \u201csuit up\u201d for Pop Warner football through its Little Mite division which is a full-contact tackle league with approximately 16,000 players across the nation. Further they write, \u201cA medical journal explaining the precise dangers of organized football to the brains of young children,\u201d would have been included in their book, but the \u201ccultural phenomenon is so new that it has yet to be studied\u201d.\u00a0 They add, \u201cWe simply cannot gauge the long-term effects for these little ones. That alone is reason to keep children so young off the gridiron\u201d (Cantu & Hyman, 2012, p. 30). \u00a0Just because there is not decades of medical research does not mean parents, youth football coaches, and related organizations are off the hook.<\/p>\n

In addition, here are some other very important facts that parents need to know as included in Chapter 7 of Concussions and our Kids.\u00a0 <\/i>Below are some of the \u201cmyths\u201d Cantu and Hyman (2012) discuss in their book while providing specific patient examples. They explain that concussions can occur whether or not the player is knocked unconscious, and that helmets do not prevent concussions. They also clarify that a second or third concussion may or may not be more serious than preceding concussions. All concussions regardless of severity require rest and proper time to heal \u2013 especially in younger children. They remind readers that the assumption that boys suffer more concussions than girls is not always accurate (although logic states there would be more instances of concussions by boys in youth football as it is primarily a male sport \u2013 at least until there are a lot more little Sam Gordon\u2019s on the horizon). There is no magic number of concussions that would result in a medical professional making the recommendation that a child should withdraw from sports.\u00a0 It\u2019s the educated\/informed parent who should monitor and keep track of all injuries to a child\u2019s head regardless of severity and is just one more reason why Cantu and Hyman believe in educating parents and coaches.\u00a0 The emergency room doctor is not equipped to make that type of determination and neither is a coach. \u00a0Finally the most important \u201cmyth\u201d they clarify is that a child who experiences a concussion that may or not be initially diagnosed as such may not experience symptoms immediately. They state, parents should \u201ccontinue to be alert for another week\u201d (Cantu & Hyman, 2012, p. 114). While the health and well-being of young athletes needs to be a collective effort by coaches, trainers, league officials and doctors, but ultimately falls primarily in the hands of the parent.<\/p>\n

Notwithstanding the lack of medical research for young athletes and the lack of apparent disregard by youth football organizations, parents need to be further informed about multiple concussions and what could lie ahead.\u00a0 In fact, Cantu and Hyman (2012) devote an entire chapter to Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE).\u00a0 Their definition follows:<\/p>\n

CTE is a progressive degenerative disease of the brain found in people exposed over many years to repetitive brain trauma. That trauma includes concussions, of course, and thousands upon thousands of sub concussive blows that athletes absorb over a lifetime playing football.\u00a0 The jolts to the brain can trigger a buildup of an abnormal for of protein called tau.\u00a0 The process is similar to the one that takes place in the brains of Alzheimer\u2019s patients. (Cantu & Hyman, 2012, p. 90)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If the fear of CTE as explained above is not reason enough for parents to demand change for our youth who are engaging in football, here are nine reminders:\u00a0 Nathan Stiles, Mike Borich, Owen Thomas, John Mackey, John Grimsley, Lou Creekmur, Ray Easterling, Dave Duerson, and Junior Seau (Fecke, 2013). These are names that many football enthusiasts will quickly recognize as all nine had varying levels of CTE when they died (Fecke, 2013). Although in most cases, these deaths occurred when the football player was an adult, it is imperative to note once again that a child\u2019s brain is \u201cgelatin\u201d and helmets do not prevent concussions \u2013 thus full contact for youth football players must stop.\u00a0 If impacts as adults can create CTE, imagine what multiple impacts can do to children?\u00a0 Again, we do not know the answer to this question. \u00a0A child\u2019s head does not reach its full size until about age fourteen \u2013 and even at age fourteen it is 90% of the size a head will be as an adult.<\/p>\n

The assumption can be made that if adult football players do not realize or choose not to acknowledge what was happening to them, how can a mere child of five, ten or even fourteen know when the risks outweigh the rewards?\u00a0 Sadly one day that five-year-old pee wee player may wind up with similar symptoms whether or not he plays football for decades or just a handful of years. Remember no medical research is available that shows the long term repercussions from hard hits, repeated falls, tackles, and head to head jolts when a child is just five to fourteen years of age.<\/p>\n

What parent could count the number of times his fourteen-year-old football prodigy has hit his head in a ten-year span assuming he began his illustrious career at age four?\u00a0 In reality given today\u2019s fast-paced society, very few parents can attend every practice and every game. There has to be clear and honest communication to parents from those in charge (i.e., coaches, trainers, team moms, and referees) after all practices and games whenever there is even the slightest hint of a head injury to any young football player whether he is the star of the team or the worst on the field.\u00a0 Hopefully, football is reaching a turning point.\u00a0 Professional football would not suffer if educational warnings about the risks and rewards of playing full contact football were plastered across the sky (even if that was possible); but changes to all youth football leagues with regulations in place to prevent full contact for those football players ages four to fourteen could quite possibly save a life and one life is certainly worth saving.<\/p>\n

There is a way to prevent a large majority of potential concussions in youth football from ever happening. \u00a0If NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell\u2019s statement, \u201cthe game can be made safer while making football better,\u201d is true at the professional level, then surely a similar yet even safer game plan can be put into place for youth football (The Miami Herald<\/i>, 2013). It is time to begin protecting the youngest on the gridiron, and it seems most apparent informed parents hold the key to signal \u201cgame over\u201d for full contact football.<\/p>\n

Brittany Beaumont is a junior at Clemson University, majoring in Communication Studies with a minor in Psychology. She was raised in Atlanta, Georgia and is currently a midfielder for the Clemson Women’s Soccer team. She also is a member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, and is a Clemson Coalition representative for all student-athletes. After graduation, she looks forward to pursuing a career in Sports Management\/Public Relations. You can follow her on Twitter @BrittBeaumont<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Brittany Beaumont It takes less than ten minutes to reach pages eleven and twelve of Concussions and our Kids where just four convincing paragraphs serve as a wakeup call for any parent who has a child participating in youth sports. Written by Robert Cantu, M.D. and Mark Hyman (2012), this book presents solid documentation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[1],"tags":[181,190,29,16,151,32,182,183,185,186,220,219,195],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nflconcussionlitigation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1397"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nflconcussionlitigation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nflconcussionlitigation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nflconcussionlitigation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nflconcussionlitigation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1397"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/nflconcussionlitigation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1397\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1398,"href":"http:\/\/nflconcussionlitigation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1397\/revisions\/1398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nflconcussionlitigation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nflconcussionlitigation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nflconcussionlitigation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}