wistv.com – Columbia, South Carolina
From books to documentaries – even a soon to be released Will Smith flick – it seems everyone’s talking about concussions in the NFL.
In Kershaw County, the school district is investing more time and resources into preventing them.
In fact, concussions become a key part of the conversation before players ever step onto the field at Lugoff-Elgin High School.
Before they can test their skills on the field, Lugoff-Elgin athletes must answer some on-screen questions.
“We do baseline testing for our football players and our wrestlers right now,” said athletic trainer Anna Harvley.
Simple questions like word recognition provide a cognitive baseline for each athlete. That way, if they take a hit to the head, a doctor can re-test and know if they’re mentally back to where they were before.
“When you’re talking about head trauma, it’s someone’s ability to think, their ability to speak, their ability to recall,” said Athletic Director Matthew Campbell. “It’s a huge issue.”
Campbell said awareness brought to the issue by media like the soon to be released Will Smith flick, Concussion, has changed the sport of football.
“When I was growing up and when I was playing, there wasn’t a whole lot about it,” Campbell said. “It was, ‘Yeah. You got your bell rung,’ and you went on and kept playing. Now everybody’s very cautious about it.”
Which is why the school invests time in educating about symptoms, so athletes can spend more time safely doing what they love.
And despite advances in technology promising to put a stop concussions. The athletic staff said awareness really is the best tool they have.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE:
http://www.wistv.com/story/29947377/new-concussion-film-brings-brain-injuries-to-the-forefront