Our Dr. Mark Halstead was a busy guy yesterday. Before he headed out to Rams Park in his role as one of the St. Louis Rams team docs, he did several interviews about a new study he participated in about concussions in young athletes. Something he says a lot of times would not get taken seriously.
“Up until about five years ago, athletes, coaches and parents just blew off these injuries as part of the game, but now people are paying more attention to them,” he told KMOX’s Fred Bodimer.
Dr. Halstead participated in a study in the journal Pediatrics that said childhood concussions have doubled, even as sports participation has gone down.
Concussions can have serious, long-lasting effects if they go unchecked. In an interview I did with Dr. Halstead a couple of years ago he told me the problem is, not everyone knows how to recognize the signs.
“It’s not like someone comes off the field and they’re holding their leg,” Dr. Halstead, a sports medicine specialist at the Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University Outpatient Orthopaedic Center in Chesterfield, MO and also at St. Louis Children’s Hospital. “Sometimes kids don’t tell us there is an issue going on.”
He says too often in football, young athletes think getting hit in the head is part of the game.
“That is not the case,” he says. ”A lot of times concussions may get overlooked, because even though the athlete thinks it might not affect their ability to perform in the field, in reality it probably does.”
Dr. Halstead is among a growing number of physicians using a computerized test to help diagnose the severity of concussions. Using a series of questions testing memory and recall of words and shapes, Dr. Halstead can more accurately diagnose the level of a concussion.
Still, doctors encourage parents and coaches to know concussion symptoms:
- Loss of Consciousness (although most concussions don”t involve being “knocked out”)headache
- Feeling Dizzy/Foggy/Slow
- Trouble thinking, remembering, or concentrating
- Nausea/Vomiting
- Drowsiness/Decreased energy
- Ringing in the ears
- Slurred Speech
To see how a concussion can affect an athlete, watch this piece from CBS Evening News and Dr. Jennifer Ashton.
-Jason Merrill
Kristin Hall
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