Concussions in Sports

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF)- Knowledge and treatment of concussions in sports has come a long way over the past few years.

Concussions over the past 10 or so years have gone from a bit of an afterthought to a vocabulary word that everyone knows.

The injury has affected sports and athletes in different way from rumors that the poor management of a concussion played a role in Jalen Hurd transferring from UT all the way to the NFL considering taking Kickoffs out of the game completely.

Football isn’t the only sport at risk according to numbers from the CDC both men’s and women’s soccer have nearly the same risk for head injury per player as football.

With more and more of a spotlight being put on concussion thanks to movies like “Concussion” it has helped push change towards the way to handle the injury.

“I think the NFL has help us out a lot in that that regard because I think it is hard to watch an NFL game today and not hear the word concussion protocol or hear the term concussion protocol”

While there is still a lot that can be learned about concussion and there long term side effects even over just the past 5 years there has been a major shift.

“The definition of concussion has evolved a little bit as well as our practice of diagnosing it and i think it is still a work in progress”

Even with more knowledge and different treatment options for athletes there is still nothing that beats “REST”.

“There is a lot of testing being done out there with helmets and the cold therapy there is also some laser therapy and some other kind of fringe treatments I don’t think anything has been born out at this time as far as research goes I think what we have is or what we rely on is basically rest”

With many Tennessee Valley High Schools already relying on the same concussions protocols and testing as organizations like the NFL and FIFA the best thing we can do to ensure the safety of athletes is learn.

“Parents and coaches just need to continue to be educated on those things so they can alert their medical professionals when they see anything they think that needs to be addressed. ”