Athletes suffer from concussions
Matthew
Lombardo & Eric Seo
Staff-reporter
As more
research is being produced through studies on concussions, more doctors and
athletic trainers are concerned with athletes playing through them and dealing
with the effects. By studying
concussions, doctors have figured out that there are long term effects rather
than just temporary ones, as was once thought.
According to Sarah Farden, the athletic
trainer at Grafton, “concussions can occur when a person’s head is hit and the
brain sloshes around in the skull. When
the brain is thrown around in the skull, bruising can occur.”
Farden explains that if the brain is bruised,
a temporary loss of normal brain functioning can happen. She also said that the severity of the loss
of brain functioning could vary depending on where on the head and how many
concussions have happened. “There are
three different types of concussions. A
grade-one concussion, being not so bad, and a grade-three, being the worst,”
said Farden.
A grade-one concussion could last up to 15
minutes of displaying and feeling symptoms such as loss of balance, a slurring
of speech, and headaches. With a
grade-one, a player can begin playing full speed again when all symptoms are
gone. With a grade-two or three
concussion, however, playing time should be limited until the person is cleared
by a physician.
Although the symptoms of a grade-two
concussion vary depending on how the person was hit, the symptoms are “almost
the same symptoms as a grade-one, just lasting longer than 15 minutes, more
severe, and the player cannot recall what happened to him or her,” said Farden.
Junior Brad Cibrin suffered a grade-two
concussion in a football game against Tabb in August 2007. “I was really dizzy, and I didn’t know what was going on,” said
Cibrin. Surprisingly, Cibrin remembers what happened pretty well. “A player from Tabb was running the ball and
I tackled him, but I hit him leading with my head,” said Cibrin.
According to Farden, even when you lose
consciousness, even for the shortest amount of time, it is considered a
grade-three concussion. “A smart
athlete will go see a physician to be one hundred percent sure that there is no
permanent damage and that they are okay to play again,” said Farden.
During a football game against
According to Jones, an ambulance came to the
game, and he was sent to the emergency room. “The doctors said I asked the same
question over and over because I couldn’t remember anything about what happened
or where I was or what was going on,” said Jones.
Jones reported his symptoms were “loss of
consciousness, short term memory loss, and really bad headaches for
weeks.”
As a result of Jones’ severe concussion, he
also suffered weeks of a learning impediment.
“It
was hard for me to concentrate in school.
I had to re-learn a lot of what I had already learned in the beginning
of the year because I forgot what I learned,” said Jones.
Students at Grafton are now required to take
the ImPACT test before they are allowed to return to play. The ImPACT test is a computerized
memorization and speed challenge that tests a persons symptoms of attention,
memory, processing speed, and reaction
time. This test compares pre-concussion
and post-concussion results to see if any damage took place in the brain.
Fortunately, Jones’ injuries were not
permanent. “Even though it was only our
second game of the season, I didn’t get to play the whole rest of the season
just in case it happened again. The
doctors said that if I got another concussion in that short of a time period, I
could have permanent brain damage, or it could get even more serious,” said
Jones.
Farden expects to learn much more about the
unknowns of concussions in the near future. “The more we learn about concussions,
the more people want to study them and want to come up with new ways to prevent
and treat them,” said Farden.