Shrewsbury Schools to train in concussion protocol
Coaches, athletic directors, school physicians and nurses and anyone else directly involved with Shrewsbury school youth sports are now required to undergo training in the prevention and recognition of concussions and other a sports-related head injuries.
The training is the result of the School Committee adopting a district-wide concussion policy. The policy, approved for a second and final reading last Tuesday, contains the latest in medical research to prevent and treat head injuries in school sports and complies with both Massachusetts Interschlostic Athletic Asspociation policy and state law.
All school districts in the state are mandated to adopt a concussion policy by March 1. A draft of the Shrewsbury policy is posted on the School Department’s web site.
Thirty-five states, including Massachusetts, have enacted laws that formally strengthen the treatment and prevention of concussions in youth sports.
An estimated 3.8 million sports-related concussions occur each year in the United States for all ages and all sports. A 2006 study by the National Center for Injury Prevention found that 47 percent of high school football players sustain a concussion each season, and 35 percent of players said they had more than one in the same season.
The number of children 19 and younger coming to U.S. hospital emergency rooms with concussions rose 63 percent in the past decade, from 153,000 in 2001 to 250,000 in 2009, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study.
Most youth sports events do not have trainers or doctors on the sidelines. The policy adopted by the Shrewsbury School Committee provides schools and coaches with consistent guidelines and protocols to be implemented.
Specifically, coaches and other people working in school sports programs must be trained annually in the prevention and recognition of a sports-related head injury, including second impact syndrome. Those personnel include, coaches, certified athletic trainers, volunteers, school physicians, school nurses, athletic directors, marching band directors, parents of a student who participates in an extracurricular athletic activity and students who participate in an extracurricular athletic activity.
According to the policy, the School Department protocol will discuss and outline what a concussion is, the mechanism of injury, signs and symptoms, management and return to play requirements, as well as information on Second Impact Syndrome and post-concussion syndrome. Lastly, the protocol will discuss the importance of education for athletes, coaches and parents and other persons as required by law.
This protocol will be reviewed on a yearly basis with all pertinent staff to inform them of the procedures to be followed to manage sports-related concussions. This protocol will also be reviewed on a yearly basis by the Athletic Department as well as by nursing staff.
Annually the School Department will report to the School Committee the number of concussions monitored, general outcomes and a rationale for any changes in the protocol.
Any changes in the policy will be approved by the School Committee and given to athletic staff, including coaches and other school personnel, in writing. An accurate synopsis of this policy will also be placed in student and faculty handbooks.
The policy applies to extracurricular athletic activity. This means an organized school sponsored athletic activity generally occurring outside of school instructional hours under the direction of a coach, athletic director or marching band leader, but not limited to alpine and nordic skiing and snowboarding, baseball, basketball, cheer leading, cross country track, fencing, field hockey, football, golf, gymnastics, horseback riding, ice hockey, lacrosse, marching band, rifle, rugby, soccer, skating, softball, squash, swimming and diving, tennis, track (indoor and outdoor), ultimate frisbee, volleyball, water polo, and wrestling. All interscholastic athletics are deemed to be extracurricular athletic activities.
According to state law, the policy must require documentation of a student’s history of head injuries, including concussions, which will be kept on file each athletic season with the completion of a parental consent form for each athlete.
The policy also requires documentation of an annual physical examination of students participating in extracurricular athletic activities. That documentation will be kept in the student’s health records on file in the high school nurse’s office.
The guidelines as outlined in the state law call for the immediate removal of a student from practices or games if a concussion is suspected. If a head injury is suspected, the student will not be allowed to return the same day. In addition, parents will be immediately notified so they can take make arrangements for a medical evaluation and treatment. Moreover, all head injuries and suspected concussions will be reported to the school nurse, school physician, and the certified athletic trainer on staff.