ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, March 14, 1997 TAG: 9703140023
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-9 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: SAN DIEGO
SOURCE: LOS ANGELES TIMES
Concussions are among the most common and undetected of sports injuries. Guidelines on how to spot and assess them are needed, medical researchers say.
Coaches in youth sports should be more concerned with even mild concussions and learn to administer tests to determine immediately the possible extent of brain injury to their players, researchers reported this week.
``Coaches and players need to understand there is no such thing as a minor concussion,'' said Dr. Jay H. Rosenberg, a neurologist with Kaiser Permanente's San Diego Medical Center and member of the research team that published the reports in the journal of the American Academy of Neurology. ``While you can put ice on an injured knee or pulled muscle, you can't `ice' the brain.''
The articles and proposed guidelines to test injured athletes represent a significant escalation in concern expressed by the medical establishment about one of the most common and undetected kinds of athletic injuries.
Rosenberg and other head-injury specialists vowed to mount a campaign to persuade groups to adopt uniform guidelines on how to spot and assess concussion injuries.
The old standard, which states that unless an athlete loses consciousness he has not truly suffered a concussion, is wrong and harmful, the researchers said.
A neurology academy committee chaired by Rosenberg has devised simple memory and exercise tests that coaches can administer on the sidelines. Kaiser Permanente pledged to provide laminated, pocket-sized cards to assist coaches and trainers in making evaluations.
The report - which included original research and an analysis of numerous studies of sports-related head injuries - comes amid national concern about injuries to young athletes.
``Nobody wants to see parents pulling their kids out of organized sports,'' said Dr. Kenneth M. Viste Jr., president of the American Academy of Neurology. ``We just want to make sure that once players strap on their helmets and play the game, their supervisors have all the necessary tools to provide the best immediate care possible, should the need arise.''
The guidelines have already been endorsed by the American Orthopedic Association, the Brain Injury Association, National Athletic Trainers' Association, Pop Warner Football, USA Hockey and other groups.
At a news conference in New York, the guidelines were supported by former pro football linebacker Harry Carson and former pro hockey winger Brett Lindros, both affected by brain injuries suffered during competition.
``I learned that the brain, unlike a muscle, cannot be rehabbed time and time again,'' said Lindros, forced into premature retirement from the New York Islanders.
Carson, who played 13 years with the New York Giants, suffers from the cumulative impact of multiple concussions.
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