To Much Action

Concussions

For most athletic trainers Friday night is spent on the sidelines with a close eye on as much of the actual play as possible. We try to see the play, but if you’re like me you spend more time zeroing in on kids that have gone down awkwardly or been on the wrong end of a violent collision. I cover a 3A high school that is fortunate enough to have a local GP physician that loves football and is on the sideline for every game. Dr. Miller is glad to assist in anyway possible during the game but the responsibility of getting the job done is mine. Occasionally I act as the athletic trainer for both teams, so it can get really interesting. Most of my time is spent covering wounds or evaluating the bumps and bruises suffered during play and missing all of the action. I’m sure that I’m preaching to the choir but it gets pretty busy. It is impossible for one athletic trainer to see everything that happens! During the game I was covering Friday night a very small running back from the other team chose to hit the wrong hole and took a nasty (perfectly legal) hit. He popped up and appeared disorientated as he staggered the wrong direction and then back toward his huddle. Looking across the field at their athletic trainer and their team doctor it was obvious that all the other players had completely blocked them from seeing the damaging result of the hit. As I was hobbling (this new high dollar Achilles isn’t getting the job done yet) toward the sideline judge to get play stopped one of the kid’s teammates got the attention of the white hat and play was stopped. The young man was sent to the sideline and was evaluated by the athletic trainer and team doctor. I saw teammates recognizing a hurt teammate and making sure he got help. The young man returned to the game later. (Stay with me I’m working my way to a point.)
Did anyone see the Philadelphia Green Bay game Sunday? Did you see the Stewart Bradely concussion? He collided with a teammate’s leg, barely made it to his feet long enough to stumble, then quickly falls back to the ground. He was helped to the sideline and before long back in the game. The Philadelphia Eagles have a lot more medical staff on the sidelines then most of us could even imagine having during a game and even they can’t see everything that happens. It is hard for me to believe that no one on their sideline saw what happened on the field. But he was evaluated quickly and returned to the game. Even if no medical staff saw him struggling surely another player or coach saw it. Why didn’t anyone step up and tell the medical staff what they saw? In the medical staff’s defense they were slammed by major injuries over a very short period of time before Bradely went down and could all easily been busy during the event. Further more the Philadelphia medical staff is very well respected among the league and known for being quite conservative with concussions. After halftime Bradely was not allowed to return.
Now finally I can make my points.
1) Athletic trainers may be a little superhuman but we can’t see everything all the time. We need game officials, coaches, and players to be our eyes when ours are unable to be two places at once. If we properly educate those around us of the obvious signs of a concussion then they can send an athlete to us if we are unable to see the injury happen. 2) It takes time to do a quality concussion evaluation. Not necessarily a lot of time because of the many tests that can be performed but the duration of time for the evaluation. Athletic trainers are well trained to recognize the signs and symptoms of a concussion. We also know that symptoms may not be experienced immediately and often develop or worsen over time. It is easy to get caught in “get it done mode” and do a very good evaluation before symptoms have had time to set in. So slow down and see if symptoms develop over time.