Every year, thousands of children participate in one of Frisco’s various youth recreational, competitive or scholastic sports leagues. And more children are expected to sign up for sports with Frisco’s growing youth population.
The prevalence of youth sports and the growing understanding of concussions have brought about recent policy changes to local sports leagues.
The Frisco Soccer Association adopted a new concussion policy about six months ago after U.S. Soccer announced a new concussion protocol for all its affiliated leagues.
FSA is also implementing a no-header rule next season for players ages 10 and younger, FSA Chairman Jim Mills said.
“If you can do anything to remove risk, that’s what you want to do, and that’s all we’re doing by including that in our rules,” Mills said.
Frisco ISD also updated its concussion policy in April to further clarify its return-to-play protocol.
FISD has been following the state’s requirements for a concussion policy since the law’s implementation in 2011.
FISD athletic trainer Raul Martinez said he has seen a change in attitude toward concussions. He said if a student athlete sustained a head concussion five years ago, the coach or athletic trainer would have the student sit down for 15 minutes and then return to the game.
“That’s really how it was five or six years ago,” he said. “And then the law came out, and that started changing everything. Now, there’s just a lot more awareness out there and a lot more understanding of what a concussion actually is.”
Children and concussions
In a 2012 study published in the American Journal of Sports Medicine, researchers say playing sports is the second leading cause of a concussion for people ages 15-24, second only to car crashes.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines a concussion as a traumatic brain injury caused by a blow to the head or the body that causes the head and the brain to move back and forth rapidly. This sudden movement can cause the brain to bounce around or twist in the skull, which can cause damage to brain cells and changes to the chemicals in the brain.
[polldaddy poll="9440412"]
Because it does not take much force for the brain to move inside the skull, safety equipment, such as helmets, cannot provide complete protection against concussions, said Dr. Martha Grimm, the medical director of the Texas Health Ben Hogan Concussion Center Plano. Texas Health also has a sports medicine facility in Frisco.
Martinez said it is up to the coaches to ensure their athletes are playing by the rules and are practicing proper technique. However, he said most sports-related concussions happen in unavoidable situations, such as a player hitting the ground.
“If it’s a perfect storm, nothing’s going to prevent [a concussion],” Martinez said. “Really, the key is having the coaches teach proper technique.”
Common symptoms of a concussion include headaches, memory loss, balance issues and confusion, according to the CDC.
The areas of the brain most often affected by concussions include the frontal lobes and the temporal lobes, Grimm said. The frontal lobes are responsible for motor skills and behavioral functions, and the temporal lobes are responsible for memory and interpreting emotions, according to the American Association of Neurological Surgeons.
A child’s brain is still developing until about age 24, Grimm said, and the child’s brain cells are therefore more active than in an adult’s brain because it is still learning and growing. Because of this, a child’s brain takes longer to heal after a concussion than an adult’s brain, she said.
“It takes on average 21 days for a child’s brain to heal, whereas it may only take seven days for an adult brain,” Grimm said.
Children also tend to have more problems with memory loss and personality issues following a concussion, whereas adults tend to struggle more with balance and motor skills, Grimm said.
Research has also shown that girls may be more susceptible to concussions than boys.
Grimm said there are three possible physical reasons for this: girls have weaker neck muscles, which could cause the brain to move more; and higher progesterone and estrogen levels in girls may cause the brain to take longer to heal.
The 2012 study in the American Journal of Sports Medicine, which studied concussions in 20 high school sports, also suggests that girls may be more likely than boys to report their concussions.
Concussion policies
Though FSA and FISD sports are governed by two different entities, their concussion policies have similarities.
The new policy FSA adopted less than a year ago requires referees to stop a game if they suspect a player has sustained a head injury. The player must be removed from the game and not allowed to return until he or she has been evaluated by a medical professional.
“This concussion protocol was probably the biggest movement that took place coming down from U.S. Soccer because it addressed for the first time giving an actual exclusion saying ‘do not allow this player to come back and participate,’” Mills said.
Doctors from Scottish Rite Hospital for Children also train FSA coaches about different head injuries and their effects, he said.
A bill passed by the 2011 Texas Legislature requires school districts to adopt a return-to-play protocol developed by a concussion oversight team. FISD’s protocol calls for an athlete to complete several steps, including getting written clearance from a physician, after sustaining a concussion before the athlete can rejoin in athletic activities.
The law also requires schools to provide basic concussion information to student athletes and parents, who are both required to sign a form acknowledging the information every year.
Coaches at FISD are also trained to recognize the signs of a concussion, and an athletic trainer is always on site to conduct an on-field assessment if a student gets a head injury during a practice or game, Martinez said.
Although coaches and athletic trainers can help spot potential concussions, FISD has been encouraging students to report possible concussions, he said.
“[Concussions] occur more than sometimes we know about,” Martinez said. “The biggest thing is educating the athletes on concussions, because there’s times when kids will take some hits, some shots to the head, have some concussion-like symptoms but not report them.”
Though Martinez said this rarely happens, he said athletes may not want to report a concussion because they do not want to lose their starting position or be pulled from the game.
Mills said less than 1 percent of players will receive a concussion during a season, so parents should not fear children playing sports but should rather become aware of the warning signs.
“I think awareness is good, but we can’t let awareness become fear, and we should feel comfortable playing the game,” he said.
View a map of local health care providers
FSA is also implementing a no-header rule next season for players ages 10 and younger, FSA Chairman Jim Mills said.
“If you can do anything to remove risk, that’s what you want to do, and that’s all we’re doing by including that in our rules,” Mills said.
Frisco ISD also updated its concussion policy in April to further clarify its return-to-play protocol.
FISD has been following the state’s requirements for a concussion policy since the law’s implementation in 2011.
FISD athletic trainer Raul Martinez said he has seen a change in attitude toward concussions. He said if a student athlete sustained a head concussion five years ago, the coach or athletic trainer would have the student sit down for 15 minutes and then return to the game.
“That’s really how it was five or six years ago,” he said. “And then the law came out, and that started changing everything. Now, there’s just a lot more awareness out there and a lot more understanding of what a concussion actually is.”
