Concussion Consciousness
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TONAWANDA, N.Y.- It is a story that is both heart-breaking and eye-opening.
Preston Plevretes was a young football player with dreams of going pro. Dreams that would come to a sudden end during a college football game.
Plevretes suffered a minor concussion during practice. After sitting out just one game, he was cleared to play, even though he was not symptom-free.
He played two games without a problem, but a bone-crushing hit put him out of the lineup for good. He was rushed to the hospital. He underwent two and a half hours of surgery and was then put on life support.
Plevretes had to relearn everything and today struggles to walk and talk.
Student athletes at Kenmore West High School are shown a video telling his story as part of their concussion awareness program.
It is all part of a new consciousness regarding the seriousness of head injuries.
The attention is reflected in emergency room statistics.
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, between 1997 and 2007 the number of E-R visits for head injury doubled for kids from 8 to 13. For older teenagers, they increased by 200 percent.
Karen Hughes, the Director of Outpatient Rehab and Sports Outreach for Catholic Health Systems says it is part of a trend spreading across the state.
“New York State has not mandated that every school has a baseline test, yet. New York state has only mandated that every district has a management plan and management team in place.”
But many of the schools in Western New York are ahead of the curve.
“We have approximately 30 high schools in Western New York who we provide athletic trainer coverage to. Most of them get baseline tested in one way or another.“
Baseline testing is a way of documenting an athlete’s normal brain function. There are two main types of tests… the sports concussion assessment test or scat, which is a written form, or the ImPACT test, which is a computerized reaction test.
A test that will be used as a measuring stick in the coming season, if an athlete suffers a head injury.
Hughes says “It’s not the be-all and end all, it just helps us and the physician determine whether an athlete has returned to functioning as they did before the injury.”
And as the athlete recovers, they can monitor symptoms such as headache or dizziness, but with the baseline tests they can actually compare brain function.
She adds, “There isn’t a right number to allow a brain to heal, and every brain is a little bit different. Every athlete’s injury can be different“.
Because of that, Hughes says it’s best to ere on the side of caution.
“When in doubt, sit him out.”
If your district doesn’t offer base-line testing, or you have a child who’s not yet in high school that you’d like to have tested, there are alternatives. Both the University at Buffalo and Excelsior Orthopaedics have concussion clinics. The tests may or may not be covered by your insurance, but even if they aren’t, Dr. John Leddy at U.B. says they typically run between 25 and 35 dollars.
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