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The reason you run to the ER is that there could be a bleed, and from that you die.</p>
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<p>And what are the symptoms that make you make that decision? Because if you run to the ER for every head impact and demand a CT scan, you’re going to run into issues with exposure.</p>
<p>I agree, you run to the ER. It is a brain injury. There is rarely an outward sign, such as a bruise or a bump. FB players wear helmets, you won’t see a bruise or a bump. Disorientation is a sign. If your kid is like the avg kid. They come home, do homework, eat dinner and plop themselves in front of the tv, computer or Xbox, it is very easy to miss.</p>
<p>We openly admit we missed the signs. Bullet saw him take the hit at the game, and shake it off, he came home, took his shower and went to bed. Woke up, ate breakfast and left for school. Spent the whole day in classes, then went to practice. It was @ 24 hours later we were alerted by the school…all because he could not hold his stance in the line up. </p>
<p>He admitted to the doc he fell asleep in one class, but that was because he didn’t sleep well the night before from the headache he got in the game after a hit. I would have brushed off that excuse as making sense, and handed him 2 aspirins. </p>
<p>I WOULD HAVE BEEN WRONG.</p>
<p>This child died in his sleep. The one thing they tell people who have concussions is to wake them every few hrs and ask them basic questions. If they can’t answer them you take them immediately to the hospital.</p>
<p>hop,</p>
<p>there are actual signs one is lack of coordination, another is short term memory loss. For our DS he could not remember the team they played the night before or if they won. Again, he could not hold his stance without swaying and bumping into other players. A stance he has done for 2 yrs, and hundreds of hours…summer practice here is 8 weeks, 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. School yr it is 4 hrs a day 5 days a week, plus games.</p>
<p>Good points all around. Going to the ER may or may not be the ‘best’ option. It is good to see a physician who can take a decent neurological exam. Your child’s own pediatrician may be a good choice here. There is limited value in doing a CT scan for each and every concussion. They should be done if the condition warrants the problem is in the ER, many times they will do one routinely and there is the issue with unnecessary over exposure.</p>
<p>Symptoms - they do not always manifest immediately. Sometimes a kid can take a blow and feel okay. Symptoms then show up later that day or the next day. </p>
<p>Post concussion syndrome is a real condition. Kids are left feeling confused, depressed and with headaches for weeks or months. They are left unable to concentrate, fall asleep in class and often their grades will suffer. If this happens you need to intervene.</p>
<p>IMPACT testing is a great idea. My kids’ high school has used it for years and all athletes are given a baseline before the first practice. </p>
<p>Concussions can happen to any kid - you don’t have to be a football player to fall and hit your head. One of mine suffered one slipping on a wet floor in the locker room after swimming. IMO - it really doesn’t make much sense to limit your child’s activities based on what ‘might’ happen. Be safe and use common sense.</p>
<p>I was heartbroken to read this story. My heart goes out to you and your community. “There but for the grace of God go I.”</p>
<p>Pima, don’t beat yourself up about missing the signs of a concussion. They don’t always manifest themselves immediately.</p>
<p>S2’s 1st concussion occurred in gym class when he banged heads with another student while playing basketball. No one - including the PE teacher - thought anything about it & he went to soccer practice that night. He never told us about the incident when he came home other than to complain about a generic headache. It wasn’t until the next morning when he threw up at the bus stop that he told my H about banging heads in PE. Concussion symptoms can be delayed.</p>
<p>My S2 played GK on two soccer teams. In May he took a direct kick to the head while making a save. This was his 3rd concussion. We took him to the ER doctor to have a “goose egg” bump evaluated, but nothing further was warranted at that time. He was benched but passed daily ImPACT tests within the normal reaction times. The swelling started 4-5 days after the incident. S2 actually requested to see a doctor on day 7. The pediatrician initially diagnosed a fractured skull and ordered a CT scan, something which was NOT done following the kick because he passed the daily evaluations & there was nothing more than a “goose egg” bump. </p>
<p>When I saw S2 take the kick to the head, I was videotaping the game for the coach. It wasn’t until a week later when I took him to the doctor for the swelling & she diagnosed a fractured skull that I fully understood the severity of the injury. Talk about beating yourself up: I spent the next 3 hours until the CT scan telling myself that I was the worst parent in the world, letting my son drive to school & play soccer with a potentially fractured skull.</p>
<p>Fortunately the CT scan showed NO skull fracture. However, he had a subgaleal hematoma (“bleed”) between the skull & scalp, which was not life-threatening but it caused his head to be noticeably lop-sided & “squishy” like an overripe melon.</p>
<p>At the time, S2 was 18 & therefore an adult. However, as a HS student, it was the athletic trainer who had the final say over whether he could play. S2 argued and fought tooth & nail with the trainer & me to be allowed to play the final games of his senior year, despite a serious head injury. My point is that although he was 18 & legally an adult in terms of medical decisions, he was still a kid that could not exercise good judgement. He also passed the daily ImPACT tests, even though his head was noticeably lop-sided.</p>
<p>He was finally cleared for play after the swelling subsided & he was evaluated by a neurosurgeon at Children’s Medical Center in DC. Everyone agreed that he could play IF he wore a protective helmet - something he grudgingly agreed to do - but the neurosurgeon cautioned him that he would be more vulnerable to future head injuries which could result in permanent brain damage. The neurosurgeon also told him that it was a miracle that his skull was not fractured & that the CT showed a permanent indentation in his skull.</p>
<p>Apparently S2 listened. As a freshman this year, he tried out for a selective club soccer team at his college. He was one of two freshmen selected to play on the team. In one of the first practices, he took a knee to the head (possible 4th concussion). Although he refused to go to the Health Clinic for concussion evaluation, he finally realized that the risk of potential brain damage was too great. He had the maturity to tell the student captain that he had to withdraw from the team. (One of the drawbacks of “club” sports is that they are run by students, not licensed coaches, and there are not professional trainers to evaluate injuries.) I think he realizes that his soccer “career” is over at the ripe old age of 18.</p>
<p>As the parent of an “adult” child, I have less control over the situation than I did 6 months ago when he was still in high school. I cannot control the activities he selects at college (hello, scuba diving? running Parkour?). I can only hope that he chooses to listen to the neurosurgeon & other experts and reads the growing body of concussion research.</p>
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I think the thing to do is run to the ER, and let the experts decide if a CT scan is warranted. In fact, we did this with my D on Saturday. She was hit hard in the face by a kicked soccerball, and seemed OK until the evening, when she developed a worsening headache. We went to the ER, and the pediatrician said she didn’t think a CT was warranted. We accepted her advice. But I’m glad we went–how are we supposed to know how bad a headache means something serious?</p>
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<p>I respectfully disagree. You are missing the point. You go see a top notch neuro who will help you decide appropriate action. We are parents and can be taught signs to seek help. Most are not medical professionals with specialities in neurology. As parents we try to get the best medical advise from professionals so we can take care of our children.</p>
<p>This area, of which I am a long time resident, is bad regarding emergency health care. Whenever possible I skip county lines to go to another emergency room. I could relay multiple instances of terrible care, but that’s not the point. These loving parents did the best they could with the information they had at the time. We can try to learn and be diligent for our students, but second guessing their decision is not acceptable. What is also not acceptable is second guessing a parents decision to ever seek medical advise for their students safety where any type of head injury is suspected.</p>
<p>So sorry to hear about your team’s loss.</p>
<p>As more stories like this are brought to light, perhaps it will eventually change the tough guy image that pervades on a lot of gridirons regarding head injuries…and leads to better helmet design.</p>
<p>However, it has been argued that helmets are part of the problem and playing without them, ironically, might lead to safer play.</p>
<p>It is certainly the case, as everyone knows, that an accidental injury can happen to anyone at any time. </p>
<p>The difference between most other sports and football–especially <em>certain positions</em> in football–is that in those positions taking hits to the head goes with the territory. It is an expected part of playing the game, not an exception to the rule.</p>
<p>I am certainly not judging any parent! Pima describes eloquently the tradeoffs involved. Not an easy decision in any way.</p>
<p>But I think that it needs to be understood that the reserch has shown that it is not just concussions but repeated hard hits in practice that causes the plaques in the brain.</p>
<p>Our district is very good at having trainers present at football games and practices, including the freshman games. I have no idea about the other sports. I doubt that any trainer has ever crossed the threshold into the cheer gym, where potentially dangerous falls happen on a regular basis. </p>
<p>I assume the problem is economic…first period or last period of the day, pretty much every sport is practicing in one way or another. Every team has freshman, JV and varsity. Some sports have freshman A & B, JV A & B (all four of those teams may play in separate locations on the same night) and Varsity. It’s really difficult to have enough trainers to go around.</p>
<p>For our FB team, at least JV and Varsity (DS started on JV, so I don’t know about Freshman), we have an athletic trainer.</p>
<p>I have to admit we have an affluent school. This makes an impact due to the fact that they can afford through Boosters to buy newer equipment without worrying about the BOE budget. They have top notch gear. It makes me wonder about schools that don’t have a large Booster club to use their funds to fill in the school budget. Old helmets are not a good thing. Cannibalizing pads and equipment creates medical dangers. Our players don’t look at the quality of the other teams equipment when they play against them.</p>
<p>I maybe in correct, but I believe it is a volunteer parent who is a doc on the field for our games along side the athletic trainer. So we have a 2nd safety net. We have the trained athletic director, but also a doc. Which in this day and age of malpractice is really putting his livelihood on the line too.</p>
<p>I do know for our school, we only got boys LAX a few yrs ago, after we got girls LAX. From what I have been told is the school had enough players to form the team, but not an athletic director that held up the formation of the team. I do not know if that is a school policy or a district policy.</p>
<p>FB takes a lot of criticism for being a contact sport, but I have to say, a lot of parents in this country has also experience the loss of a child in Baseball. Many schools and county team are now requiring players to wear something akin to a flack vest for their chest because kids have died by being hit by a baseball in their chest.</p>
<p>Part of me feels like as parents and our current society we are hurting are children. Decades ago, ECs and athletics did not play the intense part they do now for college applications and admissions. I have seen parents where it is no longer about the kid playing the sport for themselves, but for the college app. My sister made me aware of this about 6-7 yrs ago and she said to me, her DS hated Basketball because it was no longer fun, it was all about it being a job to get into college. The irony is he did get recruited full ride for college for BBall, but it was Baseball, a game he played during the off season for the fun of it, he never attended summer camps, trained, nothing…just showed up on the field and tried out when he was a jr.</p>
<p>NPR had an interesting story on football and concussion
[Concussion</a> Worries Renew Focus On Football Safety : NPR](<a href=“http://search1.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=130081779]Concussion”>http://search1.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=130081779)</p>
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<p>I’ve taken a camper (most bizzarre concussion I’ve seen) to the ER due to his signs and symptoms. They were what I would consider (as a trained provider) to be outside of my capabilities. Frankly, if I would have waited another 20 minutes to the 1-hour mark, his symptoms would be gone. The ER did less of an evaluation than I did. </p>
<p>The “Protecting Student Athletes from Concussions Act” is aimed to educate players, coaches, parents, and teachers about a concussion. The signs and symptoms, the red flags, and some of the basic treatment. </p>
<p>I’m not saying that concussions are not serious. Complete opposite actually. But it is not something in and of itself that people need to run to the ER for. If schools have the proper medical coverage onsite, it can save a lot of money and time. If it warrants referral to the ER, it will happen.</p>
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I just think you’re a little too sanguine about this. I’d rather 100 kids go to the ER needlessly than for one to fail to do so and die.</p>
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<p>I’m telling you-- If you have the proper medical coverage onsite, athletic trainers and physicians are going to do the SAME thing with the exception of imaging. I would imagine that in 75% or more cases, the ER is not going to do imaging anyway. </p>
<p>Concussions are very serious and should be treated as such. The PROPER management is needed. When a concussion happens and an athlete has symptoms, they can be treated simply by rest. If “red flag” symptoms appear, that’s when you should be concerned and seek additional medical attention. With the proper health care provider onsite, those will be addressed. If there are no “red flag” symptoms, and the other symptoms get worse then you should also seek medical attention. </p>
<p>But for most concussions, symptoms are going to appear and may last for a little while but then they’ll disappear. The only way to heal a “regular” concussion is through rest. </p>
<p>If an athlete suffers bleeding on the brain it will either happen really fast and you’ll see the signs and symptoms clear as can be or it will take days before anything shows up. </p>
<p>Even a CT scan is not the end-all answer.</p>
<p>I googled this story, using the town name, just to get more info because it made me so sad.</p>
<p>It sounds like the death was due to suicide and not due to the concussion. Of course there could be a link between the two? Either way, it is so tragic and my prayers go out to the family and entire community.</p>
<p>Such a sad time for this young man’s family and community.</p>
<p>S2 started having severe migraines last fall right after football season and during the college app process. We saw five different doctors – but noone asked about a possible concussive event until I asked if it was possible this might be residual effects from a hard hit (not that there was any specific injury). As we all suspected, it was stress-related and he is now fine, but at the time, I was really surprised noone had that on the list of questions to ask.</p>
<p>One of my uncles died of a seemingly innocuous trauma to the head – fell while skiing, felt fine, got a massive headache in the hotel room later that night and dropped dead. He was in his early 70s, in great shape and had been skiing his entire life.</p>
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Well, maybe. But those conditions exist only for a tiny percentage of youth sporting events, not to mention all the other times kids might have a head trauma. I think the default advice should be to go the the ER if there are any symptoms at all.</p>
<p>The school had known about the suicide investigation since Monday when the death was announced, but at that point it was still a concussion issue. </p>
<p>Now this thread will probably warp, from concussion to suicide, but as the OP I don’t mind. I think it is important that just like recognizing concussions we recognize suicide aspects too in hs.</p>
<p>It was announced today to the FB team it was suicide. This does not negate the fact that his parents took him to the ER on Sat. where he was found to have concussion. We do not know if the concussion was a mitigating factor in his death.</p>
<p>Austin, was known be the happiest kid. He was the player that tried to “shake it off” when a bad play occurred for his other team members. He was in every aspect a team player. Losing stunk, but his teammates and other students would say he would respond in a positive attitude…we’ll get them the next time.</p>
<p>I really don’t want to go down the suicide path because as a Mom this personally touches my life. I have to now deal with my child wondering did I miss something? Could I have reached out and stopped it? </p>
<p>My mind is in such a jumble. One day it was a football accident and the next it was a suicide. Not one of my kids graduated without losing a class member, usually to a car accident, yet this is my 1st time I will have to discuss suicide.</p>
<p>Any suggestions on how to talk to my DS now that it is a suicide?</p>
<p>My son also lost several classmates/friends to suicide. It is extremely difficult and my son is not one to express his emotions in a healthy way. The only advice I can give is to keep communication open and follow your son’s lead. Emphasize that some people struggle with demons deep inside and that sometimes there is nothing anyone else can do. It seems like it is always the “nicest, best liked” kids. These young people really put on a front. My classmates and I (40 years since hs graduation) still struggle with our favorite classmate’s death during October of our freshman year in college. He set himself on fire in the middle of the Arizona State football field (in the night). To this day we don’t understand it. Sometimes there are no answers.</p>