As the fall sports season has finally arrived, we would like
to discuss the concern for the safety of our athletes a.k.a our children.
Specifically, we want to talk about concussions. There has been a lot
of information going around and tons of awareness brought to the topic
recently. However, there are a few statistics you should be aware of:
• 70% of high school players have played with symptoms of concussions.
• 40% of coaches didn’t know about the injury.
• 33% of concussions occur at practice.
• 1 out of 5 high school athletes will experience a concussion during the
season.
• Concussed players are almost 4 times as likely to get a muscle or ligament
injury, especially in the knee and ankle.
• A second concussion can be half the intensity of the first, but still cause
twice the amount of symptoms for twice as long. Symptoms can even last three
times longer if the second concussion is less than a year apart from the first
incident.
Now you know more about the seriousness of concussions, but
do you know how to handle the situation when it occurs? Often it’s left up to
the injured athlete to decide when they feel better, and we all know they’ll
want to get back to the field as soon as possible.
So how do you keep your concussed players safe? How do you know when your
athletes are truly ready to come back to full contact?
We can help!
Our team is trained to establish a baseline test for your athletes, a
pre-screening for a concussion. The best part is, it’s simple and only takes a
few minutes to complete. It will show us red flags for students who have been
concussed and need treatment but may not be symptomatic. It will show us yellow
flags for students who may need special attention. Most importantly, it will
show us green flags for students that are performing optimally. Why is that the
most important? Because when a student has an accident and becomes concussed,
we know what score they need to get for them to be cleared to play!
Not only can we show when your athlete is prepared to start training again, we
also have the tools to get them there. We are equipped to manage an athlete’s
rehabilitation from a multifaceted approach where we can look at structure,
function, neurology and physiology.
We are a member of the Wellness Champions, a group of doctors nationwide
committed to enhancing health and wellness throughout our community. The
Wellness Champions have been working closely with 20 year MLB pro player Matt
Treanor and his wife, three-time gold medalist in beach volleyball Misty
May-Treanor on spreading knowledge about the seriousness of concussions. While
it has been great working alongside both pro and college players, we are actually
much more concerned with the health of our student athletes. The reason why?
high school athletes are twice as likely as professional athletes to get
concussions! Our doctors have undergone advanced training in prescreening for
concussions, understanding the global effects of concussion on the rest of the
body, and cutting-edge rehabilitation to get athletes back to functioning
normally and performing their best before they get back into competitive
sports. To discuss how we can work together on prescreening testing for your
team or sports group or individual players; please contact our office!
Yours in Health
Dr. Matthew Phinney