Schools implement concussion policy
JACKSONVILLE —
The Rusk ISD school board approved a management team and a protocol of steps athletes must go through to return to the game after a concussion, just in time for the team’s quarterback to have to go through them.
“Unfortunately, we already have to go through this protocol after Friday night with one of our players, so we are going to get a first-hand view on how it works,” Dr James Largent, superintendent said.
Quarterback Kody Stanley was hit in the neck and jaw by a Center High School linebacker Friday night, Ted Patton, athletic director and head football coach, said. Stanley is doing well but still has symptoms of the concussion. He as not been to school since the incident, Patton said.
Largent said there is a normal progression of steps trainers already go through to make sure injured athletes are safe, and the new management team and and return-to-play protocols make a process already in existence more formalized.
“This is more of a formal process that requires parent signatures to approve the child to come back to athletics and come back to competition, and the physician has to sign off on it,” Largent said. “There is more of a check-and-balance system from the home to the school to make sure that we are all on the same page.”
University Interscholastic League (UIL) is following the legislative guidelines issued by the state in House bill 2038, Jim Rapp director of sports medicine for Trinity Mother Francis Hospitals and Clinics (TMFHC) said.
Athletes have already taken a handout to their parents explaining the danger of concussions. They had to be signed and returned to the school, Largent said.
“It is a concussion law, but it is designed to address even the head injuries that are occurring that we are missing,” Rapp said.
The law requires the district to create a concussion management team. By law a coach or athletic director can not be on the team for conflict of interest reasons, Rapp said.
The team in Rusk will be headed by Largent, School Nurse Brandi Franks,and Daniel Easley, athletic trainer for Rusk ISD and TMFHC.
“We will depend on our athletic trainer to let us know when there are kids with concussions, because we may not be at every activity, the nurse and I, but he should know of any athletes that would have a concussion, so it will be on him to notify us,” Largent said.
Rapp said the athletic trainer does not diagnose concussions on the field, but if an athlete shows signs, they will be removed from the game. They would then have to go to a doctor for a diagnosis. Once diagnosed, the student must be symptom free for 24 hours before entering into the return-to-play protocol.
“Kody has improved since Friday night but still is not symptom free, and that is kind of the first stage of the return-to-play protocol is they have to be symptom free first before you can progress then through the steps to return to play,” Patton said.
Largent said the student can only progress one step per day. Students have to go through all four steps, Rapp said. If symptoms return, the athlete will be pushed back to the first step. He said the steps are designed to be a progression from less to more stressful activities on the brain to ensure the athlete is healthy.
The first step is light aerobic exercises.
“We encourage them to be on a bike, for example, where they are getting the heart rate and blood pressure up, but they are not jarring the brain inside the skull,” Rapp said.
The next day, the athlete is recommended to try running.
“If we are able te get their blood pressure and their heart rate up, and they go symptom free for another 24 hours, then we start actual jogging, which is another form of aerobic activity, but the bouncing of jogging will actually kind of cause the brain to move around a little bit,” he said.
The next day the student the athlete will be able to do non-contact sports drills.
“What we are trying to add a lot more movement without contact,” Rapp said. “We are also causing them to think. That is an important part of a concussion — actually thinking through the plays and knowing when you are supposed to step and supposed to lineup.”
The final step is to put them in contact drills, and if there are no signs of the concussion, then the player has finished the protocol, but they must get a signed note from their doctor clearing them for activity, and a signed note from the trainer and parents before the student can play in games.
Rapp said athletes who receive concussions are more likely to get others in the future with less force, and because doctors have to provide a written statement before the athlete can rerun to the game, this may limit the number of time they clear the athlete for activity.
“The law did not address multiple concussions, but you will start to see the ramifications of the liability associated with that. Now that physicians have to provide a written statement that this kid is safe to go back,” Rapp said.