Preventing Concussions

Brooke de Lench
Brooke de Lench

Texas Youth Football and Cheer Program: Ten Ways It Is Walking The Talk On Safety

Submitted by Brooke de Lench on Sat, 08/15/2015 - 14:19. | comments

Participation in youth sports in general, and in youth football in particular, is on the decline in some parts of the nation.  One of the biggest factors driving the decline is a concern about injuries. 

Lots of youth sports programs say they want to improve safety, but how many are actually making the effort to implement best health and safety practices?

Lots of youth sports programs say they want to improve safety, but how many are actually making the effort to implement best health and safety practices? I can't speak for every program, but I know one that is definitely walking the talk: the youth tackle and flag football and cheer program in Grand Prairie, Texas, where I spent the first week of August educating and training kids, parents, coaches, and administrators on ways to make football safer as part of MomsTEAM Institute's SmartTeams| UNICEF International Safeguards of Children in Sports project.
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NFHS Adds “Targeting” and "Defenseless Player" To High School Football Rules for 2014

In an effort to reduce contact above the shoulders and lessen the risk of head and neck injuries in football, the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) has revised the rules governing high school football for the 2014 season to add definitions of "targeting" and "defenseless player." 
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Study Showing Helmet Design Can Reduce Concussion Risk Leaves Many Questions Unanswered

A new study provides the first good clinical evidence that helmet design can lower the risk of concussion in games and practices but leaves unanswered the practical question faced by football parents, coaches, and administrators: whether a difference in concussion risk reduction exists between currently available helmet models incorporating the latest design features.
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Brooke de Lench
Brooke de Lench

Sports Legacy Institute's Hit Count Certification Program: Hitting The Reset Button

Submitted by Brooke de Lench on Mon, 01/27/2014 - 19:48. | comments

Yesterday in New York, the Sports Legacy Institute announced a certification program for head impact sensors to track the number of hits a player sustains above 20 g's of linear force.

It wasn't exactly what I had expected, but, nevertheless, a move that I wholeheartedly support. 

The announcement by the Sports Legacy Institute of a certification program for head impact sensors to track the number of hits a player sustains above 20 g's of linear force wasn't exactly what Brooke de Lench had expected, but, nevertheless, a move that she wholeheartedly supports.
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Brooke de Lench
Brooke de Lench

"The Smartest Team": Staking Out The Sensible Middle In The Polarized Debate About Football

Submitted by Brooke de Lench on Wed, 10/02/2013 - 15:36. | comments

It has been an exciting week for those of us who worked so hard over the past two years to produce The Smartest Team: Making High School Football Safer.   

After kicking off with our premiere on Oklahoma Educational Television (OETA - PBS) in August, and with stations in North Carolina and Colorado having aired the documentary in September, the beginning of October marks the first full week of broadcasts on PBS stations in more than ten states. 

The buzz about the PBS documentary, "The Smartest Team," has been overwhelmingly positive, but some appear to be working overtime, on Twitter, through a whisper campaign, and via other back-channel means, to cripple MomsTEAM's ability to get its message out. Brooke de Lench explains.
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Limiting Contact Practices In High School Football: Proceed With Caution, Study Concludes

Limiting or eliminating contact practices in football would result in an 18% to 40% reduction in head impacts respectively over the course of a high school football season, reports a new study,  which urges policymakers to proceed with caution in imposing such limits.
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Three Ways To Reduce Risk of Concussion

 

William P. Meehan, III, M.D., Director of the Sports Concussion Clinic and the Micheli Center for Sports Injury Prevention in the Division of Sports Medicine at Children's Hospital Boston, discusses three ways for an athlete to reduce the risk of concussion: cervical neck strengthening, playing with their head up, and being in good, general physical condition.

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Type, Age, Reconditioning History Do Not Affect Concussion Risk, Study Finds

The risk of sustaining a concussion in high school football is not effected by the brand, age or recondition status of the helmet, nor by the type of mouth guard worn, says a new study in the American Journal of Sports Medicine finds.
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Brooke de Lench
Brooke de Lench

Improving Concussion Safety in High School Football: Promising Developments, But A Long Way To Go

Submitted by Brooke de Lench on Sat, 04/27/2013 - 16:14. | comments

It has been a good two weeks for parents looking to make high school football safer, with a number of promising developments. But it is not time to declare victory, and many questions remain to be answered.

The last two full weeks of April 2013 have been a good one for parents looking to make high school football safer, but it is not time to declare victory, and many questions remain to be answered,
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Taking Of Concussion History Important Part of Preparticipation Exam

Concussion experts agree that the taking of a detailed concussion history as part of a student-athlete's preparticipation physical evaluation is valuable because it can identify athletes at high risk of further injury, provides an opportunity for concussion education, and modifying playing style to reduce risk.
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