Concussion awareness rising in Southern Utah
After getting kicked in the head playing goalie during a girls soccer game last year, Pine View’s Lindsey Bills didn’t think she was hurt very bad.
That is, until she saw the blood.
Seconds later, she heard screaming.
“I tried to step up and I got to my knees and blacked out,” Bills said. “I don’t remember anything after that.”
After waking up in the hospital, she spent another four hours there before returning home – where she was mostly bedridden for a week. Upon her return to school, her attempts to concentrate were often fruitless.
“Just focusing and looking at the board made my head hurt,” Bills said. “I couldn’t really do anything without a headache. I was nauseous, dizzy – sometimes I’d just be standing and I’d get dizzy and have to sit down and take deep breaths.”
Stories like this are common at every level of sport. Until the last few years, little was done about concussions. But when accounts like Bills’ grew to intolerable levels, various sports leaders began to take action.
The NFL led the way by implementing a stricter return-to-play policy in December 2009. Also in 2009, The National Federation of State High School Associations followed suit by creating the “NFHS Suggested Guidelines for Management of Concussion” document, meant to unify the seemingly scattered concussion policies throughout high school sports. Since then, most states have adopted something similar to the NFHS guidelines.
Utah signed its own concussion bill, House Bill 204, into law in May. This legislation has two key components: concussion awareness and stricter return-to-play policies.
Concussion awareness is especially important to Mark Harris, coordinator of all prep athletic trainers in the St. George area. Because many students and their families don’t understand the long-lasting dangers of untreated head injuries, they often get away with hiding their concussions to avoid missing playing time.
“Last year, I’m sure there were plenty of concussions that were unreported,” Harris said. “If kids know they’re going to be (held) out … they may try to deny it or hide it.”
HB 204 is meant to make as many people aware of the dangers of concussions as possible in hopes that more will be reported.
Said Harris: “The coaches have to be educated through an online course, the parents receive information and sign that they’ve read it and the athletes have a health care provider speak to them.”
Besides focusing on awareness, the bill also sets protocol for athletes’ treatment and return to play following a diagnosed concussion.
HB 204 requires “removal of a child from a sporting event when the child is suspected of sustaining a concussion or head injury.”
“We’ll do an evaluation on the sideline,” Harris said. “If it’s confirmed that they have a concussion, they’re definitely out. Then, they won’t be allowed to play that day and for a minimum of six days in the future.”
The amount of time they miss depends on how quickly they pass through the five phases of the “Return to Play Protocol,” included in HB 204. Although some athletes experience a less-severe concussion, they still have to spend one day in each phase without demonstrating concussion symptoms. The phases increase from a day of no physical activity, to light, then moderate, followed by non-contact and finally to a full-contact day.
“Sometimes they could take months to recover,” Harris said.
Bills’ recovery time spanned approximately three to four months. Her trainers wouldn’t even allow her to return that soccer season. In the ensuing months after her concussion, she consistently had severe headaches.
“I needed to be in a dark, quiet room or my brain just hurt all the time,” Bills recalled.
Bills’ story sends a clear message to other athletes, especially those who consider hiding their symptoms: Don’t mess with your dome. Even two mild concussions that go untreated could have long-lasting effects.
A year later, Bills does not to participate in sports competitively.
“I’ll play soccer, volleyball or basketball with friends,” she said.
Bills still gets headaches when she pushes herself too hard. Her grades have dropped and she sometimes has difficulty remembering things.
“I have really bad memory problems. I never used to have bad memory until this happened,” she said.