Sports-Related Concussions & Subconcussive Injuries

On June 28, 2011, Governor Bobby Jindal signed S.B. 189 into law, adding Louisiana to the list of states (twenty-eight as of September 1, 2011) that have enacted strong youth sports concussion safety laws.

On July 27, 2011, D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray signed into law the Athletic Concussion Protection Act of 2011, adding the District of Columbia to the list of states that have passed strong youth sports concussion safety legislation since May 2009.

The Ivy League adopted groundbreaking new rules for the 2011 football season intended to lower the risk of concussion and the number subconcussive hits, including reducing to two the number of full-contact, in-season practices allowed per week. New research suggests that such repeated hits may cause more brain damage than blows resulting in diagnosed concussions.  

Athletes who have sustained a concussion are at increased risk for sustaining another compared to athletes without a concussion history. Although experts offer several possible explanations, the precise reasons are unknown.

Whether mouth guards prevent concussive brain injury remains unclear, says MomsTeam concussion expert, William P. Meehan, III, M.D.

While a 2010 study found no evidence that purposeful "heading" of a soccer ball leads to either short-term (acute) or cumulative brain damage, such as cognitive dysfunction, concussion experts nevertheless suggest that steps be taken to minimize the risk of concussive injury to youth soccer players, particularly younger players.

Emergency medicine provider use the 15-point Glasgow Coma Scale to determine level of consciousness based on responses to various stimuli.  Patients with suspected concussive injury are categorized  as having mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) if they score a 14-15 on on the GCS, but the scale is not useful in assessing the severity of concussion or how long recovery will take, so that the terms mTBI and concussion should not be used interchangeably, says William P. Meehan, III, MD, MomsTeam concussion medicine expert and author of Kids, Sports, and Concussions.

On June 9, 2011, Alabama governor Robert Bentley signed the state's youth sports concussion safety bill into law.  Alabama joined a growing group of states that passed such laws since May 2009, when Washington State's groundbreaking Zackery Lystedt Law was enacted.