By Jessica Porter
Monday, March 01, 2010
RICHMOND – Sen. Ralph Northam, D-Norfolk, is urging the House to pass a law to educate athletes and coaches in Virginia’s public schools about the dangers of concussions and to ensure that injured student-athletes get medical attention before returning to play.
“Our athletes are stronger and faster, and despite improved equipment, we continue to see concussions,” Northam said at a press conference last week. He said he has seen an increase in the number of concussions suffered by student-athletes.
Moreover, Northam said, “We have an increase in pressure to have our athletes return to play” soon after getting hurt.
That is why Northam, a pediatric neurologist, is sponsoring Senate Bill 652. It would require the Virginia Board of Education to “develop and distribute to each local school division guidelines on policies to inform and educate coaches, student-athletes, and their parents or guardians of the nature and risk of concussions, criteria for return to play, and risks of not reporting the injury and continuing to play.”
Each school division, in turn, would have to “develop policies and procedures regarding the identification and handling of suspected concussions in student-athletes.”
Under the measure, “A student-athlete suspected of sustaining a concussion or brain injury in a practice or game shall be removed from the activity at that time.” The athlete could not return to play until the student has been evaluated by, and has received “written clearance” from, a licensed health care provider trained to deal with concussions.
A concussion is the jarring of the brain against the skull that causes problems like dizziness or confusion, said Northam, who represents Senate District 6, which includes the Eastern Shore, Mathews County and parts of Norfolk and Virginia Beach.
Northam said that if an athlete returns to play before the concussion has healed and sustains another hit, she or he risks a potentially fatal condition – the loss of auto regulation. This means the brain becomes unable to control blood pressure and cannot regulate pressure in the brain to match pressure in the body’s core.
Autopsies on NFL players show that because of trauma from football, their brains are similar to the brain of someone diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, Northam said.
“The more we know about concussions, the more we know that it is not safe if you return to play before the initial concussion is healed,” Northam said.
The Senate unanimously passed SB 652 on Feb. 15. It has been assigned to the House Education Committee.
On Thursday, that panel’s Students and Daycare Subcommittee voted 6-4 in favor of Northam’s bill. Delegate Brenda Pogge voted against it. If the entire House Education Committee follows suit, SB 652 will go to the full House for consideration.
Tim Dustan, a University of Richmond law student, understands the importance of the proposed law and voiced his support. As a high school football player, he endured a series of concussions and suffered serious repercussions the next two years.
“It’s tough to overemphasize how proper identification and management can reduce or eliminate lifelong impacts,” Dustan said. “Eventually, I was able to manage my injuries. I have made it as far as law school.”
Meg Thompson, a professor of athletic training at Longwood University, also expressed support for SB 652. While working as a high school athletic trainer, she said she saw firsthand the need for concussion education.
Thompson said athletic trainers are in a unique position to protect people like Dustan by determining whether the athlete is safe and healthy enough to go back into the game.
“It’s not the lack of getting them to a neurologist that’s going to impair their healing in a concussion situation,” Thompson said. “It’s the fact that the signs and symptoms go unnoticed and that they allowed to go back and subsequently to play.”
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