Tweet

An estimated 1.6 to 3.8 million sports-related concussions happen every year in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Grand View coaches and trainers have realized the importance of protecting student-athletes from the long-term effects and have now changed a small part of their two-year-old concussion protocol to reflect that.

There were two additions to the concussion protocol this winter. The first focuses on the way faculty is notified. The second affects the athletes academically.

But what exactly is the concussion protocol to begin with?

The word may sound familiar from the attention it has been receiving from the National Football League and the movie “Concussion.” The NFL created its concussion protocols in 2009 but has revised them five times so far with stricter rules. Now, the protocol states that an athletic team can be fined and possibly lose draft picks if they fail to take a player out of the game when he sustains a concussion. The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (the division Grand View competes in), the National Athletic Trainer Association and the sports medicine handbook all have statements on concussions that Grand View follows. Luke Steele, the director of athletic trainer services, said it’s pretty standard across the board. Although each team and institution has its own system of checking for concussions, the majority follow these standards.

Grand View’s policy is similar to the NFL’s. Once a student is diagnosed with a concussion, he or she must be evaluated by the proper training staff. This ensures concussion symptoms continue to subside and that their cognitive and balancing functions are back to normal. Depending on the severity, athletes can be out anywhere from one to six weeks; it all depends on whether they pass the final test. That’s where Steele comes in.

Steele is responsible for the entire athletic department, but he works specifically with football, outdoor track, tennis and dance. He is the person who developed the concussion awareness form to notify the professors what is going on with their student athletes. He said during the fall there were some concussions that were severe and the symptoms were lingering longer than expected. The concussion symptoms began interfering with the students’ academic performances. Athletic Success Coordinator Michelle Prange and Associate Director of Student Success Joy Brandt will each be notified if academic restrictions are needed.Brandt will then send the information to the necessary faculty. If the physician puts academic restrictions on a student-athlete, documentation will also be provided. The form states which athlete is involved, when the concussion occurred, what happened, what symptoms they experienced and which trainer did the evaluation.

“We needed a way to keep everything the same and streamline it and basically notify the correct people within the rules of the HIPAA privacy guidelines and the FERPA education records, rules and laws,” Steele said.

For a concussion patient, the journey back onto the field or court can potentially be a long one. Grand View has a five-day return-to-play progression plan that starts athletes out on a stationary bike that slowly gets the heartrate elevated. Day two focuses on a more sports-specific exercise with movement. Day three has non-contact training drills, such as exercise, coordination and cognitive load. Day four is a full-contact practice that assesses functional skills, and lastly, day five, is when an athlete returns to the game. If any concussion symptoms show up during the return-to-play plan, the athlete will go back to the previous day until the symptoms do not return.

To further educate Grand View’s athletes on concussions, there are team meetings before the season begins to talk about the concussion process to newcomers. Before the school year, all newcomers have to take the imPACT test — a computerized test that can be used to measure a concussion patient’s state. The trainers and coaches encourage teammates to report other teammates if they’re acting differently or if they’re showing some symptoms that could be related to concussions.

“We really express the importance of not hiding symptoms,” Steele said.
“I know they want to play, but the long-term effects, especially now with all
the research that’s coming out, is really not worth it. You only get one brain, and the damage that can be caused
to it is huge, so it’s pretty significant to ignore the symptoms and to not report them.”

There has been a lot of research done regarding brain injuries recently. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, repeated head injuries – which includes concussions – can cause Traumatic Brain Injuries and has more recently been linked to Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, a disease associated with physical and mental difficulties that can only be fully diagnosed after death. Around 75 percent of TBIs are caused from repeated concussions.

Steele estimated that last semester there were five athletes who were diagnosed with concussions from either sports-related and off-campus injuries. One of those athletes was Keely Larkin, a defensive specialist on Grand View’s volleyball team. She suffered a severe concussion on November 12, 2016, when was playing defense and was hit directly in the face by the ball.

Larkin said she was confined to her room with no lights or noises for five straight days. On the sixth day, she was able to make it through one class, but she still got headaches from the noise and light.

“It was two weeks after my concussion before I could make it through a full day of classes, and I still had symptoms,” she said. “About two-and-a-half weeks after, I was allowed to go to practices again. By the third week, I was practicing and almost totally symptom free.”

Larkin said the form helped her tremendously during her concussion, so she thinks the new concussion form will be a huge help to other athletes
as well.

“I didn’t have to worry about losing points or having my grades suffer because I couldn’t do things,” she said. “It also helped me to not try and rush my brain back into things.”

Garey Smith, the head women’s basketball coach, was in a situation similar to Larkin’s and knows firsthand the dangers of playing a sport with a concussion. When he was in high school, he was knocked unconscious and was told he had suffered a brain concussion. He was in the hospital for two days then decided to play in the football game on the following Thursday. He was the quarterback for his team, and he said he doesn’t recall whether he was able to operate the plays or do the calls.

Smith said his experiences help him to see how the current protocols reflect that the athlete’s health is a priority to many universities. He said because a lot of athletes want to play the game, a lot of them won’t tell their coaches if they have a concussion. That’s why he thinks the additions are one of the better things Grand View has done.

Smith said he recalls playing four basketball teams this year who had players sitting out with concussions. He said Grand View’s women’s basketball team has been fortunate enough not to have any thus far. Basketball has a lot of interaction, so many of the members have suffered from other injuries such as ankle and shoulder injuries but not concussions. Smith said when someone on the team receives a concussion, it doesn’t affect the team greatly but rather encourages them.

“That’s the nature of athletics,” he said. “Somebody has to step up and take the position of whoever is down and out. That’s basically how we talk to it and, for the most part … kids see (injuries) as an opportunity to show what they can do, so they step up a little bit. I don’t think it has a negative effect too much.”

As of right now, Steele and the other trainers do not have any plans to add any more changes to the concussion protocol, but Steele continues to work with the team physician, Dr. Shawn Spooner, to find new information. Dr. Spooner has done extensive research on concussions in the past, and Steele says he has been an asset for Grand View’s athletics by making sure protocols and information are up to date. Spooner was on board with implementing the balance and imPACT tests and has looked into different tools that can help establish a baseline test.

“The biggest thing is the communication and the collaboration, not just the athletic trainers or just the physicians but everyone involved,” Steele said. “(Also), educating the coaches and educating the student athletes about it.”

Steele said the trainers are working to provide the highest standard of health care possible for student-athletes. Their priority lies in committing themselves to all sports by making sure that the best possible healthcare is provided for the student-athletes and in the best interest of the athlete.