In January, the Institute of Medicine, part of the U.S. National Academies of Science, started an extensive study of sports-related concussions among young athletes.
In 2010, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) found that emergency rooms treated approximately 173,000 temporary brain injuries including concussions for young people under the age of 19. A different study concluded that most injuries take place in girl’s soccer and, of course, American football.
GE Healthcare has partnered with the National Football League (NFL) to create better imaging equipment to catch head injuries in injured athletes. The $60-million partnership will also extend services to military personnel and the general population.
In 2012, approximately 2,000 current and former NFL players sued the league, saying that NFL concealed the dangers associated with repeated head trauma caused by football. One-third of the partnership money will go to develop better safety equipment as part of a “Head Health Challenge.”
Among children and adolescents, the number of ER visits related to head trauma has risen 60 percent over the last decade.
The CDC has created a fact sheet targeting coaches of youth sports to help them recognize and seek help for athletes who may have concussions. A major point of emphasis from the fact sheet is to avoid letting players practice or play games if they’ve shown signs of recent concussion or head injury.
“Sometimes players and parents wrongly believe that it shows strength and courage to play injured,” the fact sheet stated. “Discourage others from pressuring injured athletes to play. Don’t let athletes persuade you that they’re ‘just fine’ after they have sustained any bump or blow to the head.”
Marc Lillibridge, a former NFL player writing for The Bleacher Report, pointed out that the pressure to play injured in the big leagues is much greater.
“Being labeled ‘injury-prone’ is the scarlet letter in the NFL—even if the injuries were freak accidents,” Lillibridge wrote. “Club executives avoid players with that label like the plague and once a player gets that moniker, they wear the title for life.”
The NFL-GE Healthcare partnership could do great things to provide treatment for players with head injuries. Prevention of serious injury to players is tough when the pressure to produce is so great.
Edited by
Brooke Neuman
