FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MARCH 17, 2010
ST. JOHN’S
SPORTS MEDICINE TEAM TO DISCUSS NEW CONCUSSION PROCEDURES, CLINIC PROTECT
YOUNG ATHLETES FROM BRAIN INJURY
6-9 p.m. March 18
Missouri
State University
Campus, Plaster Student Union, 313 Traywick,
Parliamentary Room
St. John's Sports Medicine is participating in a Missouri State University
Athletic Training Education Program called Assessing and Managing the
Adolescent Athlete’s Concussion 6-9 p.m. March 18 at Missouri State
University Campus, Plaster Student Union, 313 Traywick Parliamentary Room.
Licensed athletic trainers and sports medicine physicians from southwest
Missouri will present their policies and views on assessment procedures and
return to play decisions following a concussion. The majority of the time
will be reserved for an open question and answer session on all aspects of
managing concussions in the adolescent athlete.
Brain injuries among young athletes, especially those not managed correctly
can have devastating results, says Jim Raynor, director, St. John’s Sports
Medicine. Several national cases involving death or severe cognitive
disability resulting from brain injury and a recent landmark scientific
paper – “Consensus Statement on Concussion in Sport, 3rd
International Conference on Concussion in Sport” held in Zurich, November
2008 – prompted St. John’s to change its methods of evaluating head-injured
athletes and start a concussion clinic last spring.
“We no longer use a grading system of the old 15-minute timeline for
concussion,” says sports medicine physician Chris Farmer, M.D. “Athletic
trainers make the call regardless of the evaluation procedures recommended
after the Zurich conference. Once those recommendations were released, we
modified our policies and procedures.”
Athletes sustaining a head injury are tested with the Sport Concussion
Assessment Tool 2 (SCAT2). The athletic trainer then documents symptoms on a
checklist.
“We send the athlete home with some pretty specific home-care guidelines and
warning signs for parents,” say Brian Mahaffey, M.D., medical director of
St. John’s Sports Medicine. “We also recommend that all head-injured
athletes see their physician within 24 hours to check for deterioration of
symptoms, which is why we started the concussion clinic – to make sure these
athletes are seen by a physician within that time frame.”
The Missouri House of Representatives is currently considering a bill – HB
1548 – that would require concussed student athletes to obtain written
medical clearance before being allowed to return to practice or games.
While St. John’s Sports Medicine professionals support the legislation, they
emphasize the need for trained medical professionals on the field or
scholastic contact sports.
“Without a medical expert on the field, concussions and parents are making –
in some cases not making – decisions about concussion or which they just
don’t have the medical expertise,” Dr. Mahaffey says
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FOR MEDIA INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT ST. JOHN’S MEDIA RELATIONS AT
417-820-2426 or cora.scott@mercy.net.
For information on the
MSU program, contact Tona Hetzler, MSU Department Head and Program Director
Sports Medicine and Athletic Training, at TonaHetzler@MissouriState.edu or
417-836-8924