The Concussion Blog

OK, maybe not everyone but it has struck a chord with many people I know.  Hruby writes a long form piece on making a choice about letting your son/daughter play tackle football at a young age.  Sure he has been critical on football for a few years now, but this article is very informative and somewhat balanced on both sides.

I am writing this post not to steal his work, rather have it here for posterity sake and include one very interesting quote.  This is what I believe to be the most applicable (for the audience) when it comes to concussion management and assessment (emphasis added by me);

“If I said that one in 10 middle schools has an athletic trainer, I’d probably be overestimating,” Guskiewicz says. “Having a trainer isn’t going to prevent every injury or solve every problem. But it’s important. Some people say this is extreme, but I think that at the high school level, if you can’t afford to hire a certified athletic trainer, then you shouldn’t field contact sports at your school.“

The root cause of concussions is not sports or football, it is simply life.  They happen everywhere; from cabinet doors, to staircases, perhaps headboards, bicycles, trampolines, etc.  To avoid inherent conflicts of interest there needs to be a sole person or persons that have it as their job to keep kids/athletes safe.  We could always do what has been done before and rely upon the coach, but that seems to not be working out too well (conflict of interest).  As a buddy of mine, dad once said; “if you always do what you always did, you will always be what you have always been.”  There needs to be change.  I cannot think of a better point that having athletic trainers to do the work they are educated and trained to do: keep athletes safe.  Yes, there are way more good coaches than bad, but why not give the man/woman some help with medical advice and injury care?  Don’t they have a job to do of coaching a team/individual?