|
|
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
|
State
Rep. Tim Briggs |
|
House policy hearing focuses on Briggs' youth concussion legislation
PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 12 – State Rep. Tim Briggs, D-Montgomery, yesterday hosted a House Majority Policy Committee hearing to discuss how Pennsylvania can better manage concussions that happen in youth sports, and to increase awareness regarding their seriousness.
In spite of the inclement weather, representatives from all over the state and all but one scheduled speaker made the hearing, which was held at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
Last year, Briggs introduced legislation (H.B. 2060), which would require that if a player sustains a concussion or brain injury, they could not return to play unless cleared by a licensed health care provider. Additionally, this measure would require a student's parent or guardian to annually sign a concussion and head injury information sheet prior to the student's participating in practice or competition. Briggs said this is the most important part of the bill, as it helps increase awareness about the seriousness of brain injuries.
"Far too often, student athletes in Pennsylvania return to the field too soon after suffering concussions or other brain injuries," Briggs said. "The better informed parents and children are about the dangers of getting back in the game too soon, the better chance we have at preventing serious brain damage. The mentality of shake it off and get back in the game needs to be replaced with concussions are nothing to shake off."
Echoing Briggs' comments was Keith Primeau, former captain of the Philadelphia Flyers, whose own career was cut short by his own injuries on the ice. Primeau, who is now the director of player development for the Las Vegas Wranglers, often speaks about concussion awareness as a spokesman for Play It Cool, an organization focused on preventing concussion and spinal related injuries in youth hockey.
"Athletes should know that if they think they've had a concussion, not to hide it but to report it," Primeau said. "They need to take time to recover, because it’s better to miss one game than the whole season. The impulse is to brave through it or play through it, but that is more ignorance than it is bravado. My own experiences have taught me that being courageous is not always smart."
Tracy Yatsko, a former high school basketball player from Tamaqua who sustained
multiple concussions, was also scheduled to speak but had to have her testimony
read aloud as the poor road conditions prevented her from making the hearing.
In her testimony and via a YouTube video she was featured in for the Centers
for Disease Control (CDC) called "Keeping Quiet Can Keep You Out of the
Game," Yatsko talked about the difficulties she has seen since her injury.
"For the past five years I've
suffered from migraines that excluded me from having a normal life,"
Yatsko said.
"I spent my days and nights curled up on my couch, with an icepack wrapped
tightly around my head, all lights off, dark sheets over the windows,
everything silenced, and my mom sitting with me trying anything and everything
she could to make me smile. That was my life. Everyone else my age was living
their life at college and I was stuck on the couch dealing with pain I couldn’t
bear."
Yatsko went on to make a case for supporting Briggs'
legislative effort.
"Something needs to change, today!"
she added. "I can’t bear to think
that another child can go through the same thing as me, especially if it can be
prevented."
Dr. Drew Nagele, board secretary of the Brian Injury Association of
Pennsylvania (BIA), said that according to the CDC, as many as 3.8 million
sports and recreation-related concussions occur in the United States each year,
and for Pennsylvania the figure could be as high as 156,000 concussions per
year. Strong supporters of Briggs' H.B. 2060, Nagele described the statewide
efforts of the BIA to address all brain injuries.
"We need to follow kids with concussions to know which ones recover fully and which ones may need more help, " Nagele said. " A system of care with professionals trained in brain injury needs to be developed in every community, so that when additional rehabilitation services are indicated, they are made readily available, and so that teachers and others in the school can be brought into the loop about what will best meet the student’s needs after concussion."
Dr. Matt Grady, a pediatric sports medicine
specialist with the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, further discussed the
numbers related to this growing problem. According to Dr. Grady, concussions
represented almost 9 percent of
all high school athletic injuries in nine sports included in a recent study. He
also said that while another study found that 15 percent
of high school football players reported having
concussion symptoms during the football season, only 47
percent of those players reported those
symptoms to a school or team official.
Rick Burkholder, head athletic trainer for the Philadelphia Eagles, also spoke
about his experience working with athletes who need to receive proper rest
before they get back into the game. But
while high-profile professional athletes may return to play in only a few weeks
following a concussion or brain injury, the recovery
process for student athletes can take much longer.
"Concussions in high school sports are different than concussions in
college and professional sports," Grady
said. "Healing time is slower in younger
athletes. Studies from the University of Pittsburgh have demonstrated that
average healing time for an adolescent with a concussion is close to two weeks
and that more than 10 percent
of concussions take longer than one month to heal."
For treatment of concussions and other brain injures, Grady said that brain
rest is still the best.
"Limiting brain activity includes not only limiting video game playing,
etc., but also limiting school work until most of the symptoms have been
resolved. This
can be a big problem in the high school student, especially when symptoms last
for more than four weeks."
All eyes now turn to Harrisburg where Briggs said
he is confident that he will have enough support
to pass his bill.
"I have been encouraged by the support that my bill has gained
in the Capitol," Briggs
said. "I am working with a bipartisan
group of legislators on some amendments to strengthen the bill even more,
and I am confident that we will be successful in passing one of the strongest
bills in the nation."
Briggs said he modeled the legislation after the Zackery Lystedt Law, a Republican-introduced Washington state bill which currently is the strongest statute in the nation regarding concussions and student athletes. Bills have been introduced in at least a half dozen other states. The Zackery Lystedt Brain Project, a new partnership announced last week in Miami at the Super Bowl between the American College of Sports Medicine and the Sarah Jane Brain Foundation, is working to get bills passed in all 50 states.
###