The 2015-16 Marin County Civil Grand Jury has found a topic that should be top of mind for every parent of prep athletes, their coaches and educators — concussions.
It’s a life-defining issue that’s been explored in the 2015 film, “Concussion,” and in the NFL’s board rooms. The league’s recent, but belated, acknowledgement that head-jarring football hits are connected to a degenerative brain disease underscores the importance of the strict attention our schools need to give to concussions.
The grand jury’s study showed that many schools have taken impressive steps to protect the teens who play on their sports teams, but that additional measures are needed.
Protective measures should not vary from school to school, but should be, at the least, implemented across the board and enforced by their regional conferences.
That means rules, not recommendations. For instance, the conferences have strict rules when it comes to post-injury protocols for playing, but relies on recommendations when it comes to students returning to school after being hurt.
As the grand jury points out, it’s not just football, but lacrosse, soccer, wrestling, basketball, field hockey, softball and baseball.
Protections such as baseline neurocognitive testing of prep athletes, injury protocols and having trainers who are certified to administer concussion care and testing are not uniform, even within Marin County Athletic League schools.
They should be. Evidence is clear enough to require such care; the potential cost to the lives of children is too great not to take those steps.
“Research has not only shown that a higher percentage of high school athletes suffer from concussions than collegiate or professional athletes, but they also experience more severe symptoms and more neurological disturbances,” the grand jury wrote, stressing that proper diagnosis and treatment are “crucial.”
The grand jury also notes that a 2010 study showed the damage of measurable impairment caused by repetitive impacts to the head, even though those athletes had never been diagnosed with concussions.
To its credit, San Rafael High School has been using a new technology, head-impact sensors, for football, boys lacrosse and boys and girls soccer players. Readings from the sensors can be helpful in assessing the injuries. The school’s use of the sensors is underwritten by several grants, but their effectiveness could provide an additional helpful tool for staff trained and certified to guide safety protocols.
There’s no question that participation in prep spots is an important part of many students’ lives, but their health, safety and education must be paramount. Research into sports-related head trauma, shrugged off and shaken off by players, coaches and parents not so long ago, is guiding the way for greater awareness and much-needed changes.
The grand jury report shows that local schools are taking this problem seriously, but more should be done — with uniform safety precautions and protocols.
March 19, 2016
Marin Independent Journal
Editorial
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