concussions - Walton Law Firm

Kids With Concussions Need More Healing Time, Study Says

North County Injury Lawyers — Sat, 28 Nov 2020 01:35:33 GMT

If your child or teenager currently plays a sport in San Clemente in which there is a risk of a concussion or another type of head injury, you probably have some background knowledge about kids and concussions. In recent years, research into sports-related concussions has shown the serious risks that children and teenagers face from concussions on the field, and the ways in which those concussion injuries, especially if they are repeat injuries, can have long-term consequences for the child into adulthood. In response to sports-related concussion research, coaches and schools in California and across the country changed protocols for injuries, requiring children and teens to take a certain amount of time away from games and practices until a head injury heals.

However, according to an article in Medical Daily, recent research published in the journal Orthopedics suggests that kids need significantly more time to heal than previous researchers suggested. Indeed, according to the authors of the study, teens who sustain sports-related concussions need at least a month away from any play to heal properly, and most teenage athletes are not taking that kind of time.

Concussions in Teenagers Heal Slowly

The recent study was conducted by researchers in orthopedic surgery and sports medicine at Henry Ford Hospital in Michigan. The study involved 357 high school students who had an average age of 15.5 years. A majority (62%) of those students studied were males. The researchers observed these teenagers, who were involved in sports, for more than three years from September 2013 until December 2016. They analyzed data from the teen athletes who sustained concussions and compared that information with previous research on high school sports-related concussions.

Of the 357 high schoolers, the researchers determined that 33% of them experienced sports-related concussions, and 14% of them experienced amnesia as a result of their traumatic brain injuries. On average, the teens who sustained concussions—both minor and more severe—during the three-year period required more than 30 days to heal fully before getting back to their respective sports. If the teenager’s concussion was a recurrent or subsequent concussion, meaning that the high schooler had previously sustained another concussion, the average healing time was significantly longer.

Teens Athletes Need More Time Off the Field

A majority of the teen athletes suffered concussions in football (nearly 28%), but more than 70% of the other reported concussions occurred in sports like baseball, hockey, and soccer. Without a month or more of healing time, teens can suffer serious long-term consequences that could be avoided with more time away from the game.

The takeaway message from the study is that teen athletes who sustain concussions need more time off the field to heal than they currently take. As the Medical Daily article underscores, “even though concussions are considered mild traumatic brain injuries, they are serious and should be treated seriously.”

Contact a San Clemente Brain Injury Attorney

If you have questions about traumatic brain injury claims or need assistance with a concussion lawsuit, one of the experienced San Clemente brain injury lawyers at our firm can talk with you today about your case. Contact the Walton Law Firm for more information.

Brain Injury Markers Present in Former NFL Players

North County Injury Lawyers — Mon, 16 May 2016 02:50:48 GMT

Just how pervasive are concussions and other forms of traumatic brain injury (TBI) among professional athletes? According to a recent article in MedPage Today, a recent study determined that more than 40% of all former NFL players show signs of having experienced TBI. In other words, many—if not all—of those former players could be at risk of developing chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative disease of the brain that results from a “history of repetitive brain trauma,” according to an information sheet from the Boston University CTE Center.

Will these new findings impact the ways in which players approach the game? Or do we need even more evidence of the severity of football injuries in order to change the way the sport is played?

MRI Scans Showed Signs of Brain Injury How did the recent study look for signs of TBI among former NFL players? According to Francis Conidi, one of the researchers who is also the head of the Florida Center for Headache and Sports Neurology in Port St. Lucie, as well as a Florida State University faculty member, the study looked at 40 ex-players. They had those former players undergo diffusion tensor MRI scans, which showed traumatic brain injury markers in 43% of the former players (17 people).

How does this MRI technology work? In short, it looks for levels of water movement, and it can detect signs of traumatic brain injury when levels of water movement are below the same level for healthy people who are in the same age group. As Conidi explained at the American Academy of Neurology’s annual meeting, the former players determined to have TBI showed water movement on their MRI scans that were “2.5 standards deviations below those of healthy people of the same age.” Those scans, the article clarifies, “measured the amount of damage to the brain’s white matter, which connects different brain regions, based on the movement of water molecules in the brain tissue.”

Need for More Studies Involving Retired NFL Players When Conidi gave his presentation to members of the American Academy of Neurology, he articulated that the recent study was one of the largest to investigate signs of concussions in retired NFL players. The results of the study suggest that we need to see more research involving ex-players in order to better determine the dangers of playing professional football.

According to A. Gordon Smith, the University of Utah School of Medicine’s vice chair of research and chief of neuromuscular medicine, the implications of this study could be far-reaching. Not only should current NFL players and their families consider the findings as relevant to their personal health, but those involved in youth sports as well as “the larger landscape of brain injury” should think carefully about the MRI results and the implications of work as a professional athlete. As Conidi explained, “we found that longer careers placed the athletes at a higher risk of traumatic brain injury.” In addition, Conidi clearly connected the study’s findings to CTE, noting that “this research in living players sheds light on the possible pathological changes consistent with chronic traumatic encephalopathy that may be taking place.”

If you or someone you love got hurt while playing sports and sustained a brain injury, you may be able to file a claim for compensation. An experienced San Diego brain injury attorney can discuss your options with you. Contact the Walton Law Firm today to learn more about how we can help.

‘Concussion’ Impacting High School Football Players

North County Injury Lawyers — Fri, 18 Mar 2016 19:36:25 GMT

Typically, fictionalized film versions of real-life events often do not have a significant impact on the way youth athletes play football or make decisions about sports-related concussions. However, according to a recent report from NPR, the movie Concussion is seriously affecting decisions made by high school football players and their families. The film details the traumatic brain injury (TBI) research of Dr. Bennet Omalu, “the doctor who was the first to publish research on the degenerative brain disease he called chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE.”

High School Athletes Deciding Against Future Play For Californians who have not heard of CTE or its effects, it is a degenerative disease of the brain that appears to develop as a result of multiple hits to the head that cause concussions. Given that football players commonly experience multiple concussions over their careers, CTE has become known as a serious risk for professional athletes. Nw, it looks as though youth players are also reconsidering the risks inherent in contact sports.

Could growing debates about CTE, and the ways in which multiple concussions can lead to debilitating symptoms in adulthood, actually change the way in which high school football players approach the sport? It seems as though the ever-expanding news about the risks of CTE and sports-related concussions could indeed prevent high schoolers from continuing to take the field in college and afterward. For instance, one high school football player interviewed for the NPR report, John Castello, indicated that “he turned down multiple football scholarships” after seeing the movie Concussion.

The film alone, which stars Will Smith as Dr. Bennet Omalu, was not the only factor in Castello’s decision to stop playing football once he reaches college. Rather, the movie encouraged him to do his own research into CTE findings and the high rate at which this disease appears to affect football players. According to Castello, “I watched interviews with Dr. Omalu and that kind of really gave me some insight onto what could happen if I kept on playing football and some of the injuries that could occur.”

Assessing the Long-Term Consequences of High School Injuries Until he saw Concussion, Castello admitted that he had not considered the long-term consequences of a high school football injury. Castello sustained a brain injury during play last year, but he did not consider that he could experience serious consequences years later as a result of that head trauma. As he told NPR, “I kind of just shrugged it off, didn’t think it was much of anything.” Once he viewed Concussion, however, he realized that playing football and sustaining concussions on the field could have lifelong repercussions.

After thinking more about the potentially debilitating impact of concussions, Castello decided to turn down several college football scholarships. While the young athlete’s family does not have the ability to pay for his college education, he told NPR, “I’d rather be paying off student loans than having trouble getting down the stairs . . . in the morning.”

It is important for high school athletes to have sustained brain injuries to know that they may be eligible to file a claim for compensation. An experienced San Diego brain injury attorney can help. Contact the Walton Law Firm today for more information.