SEQUIM, Wash. -- Battle-tested and a little weary from last fall’s high school football season, Travis Anderson, an experienced EMT and paramedic John Riley, understand the nuances of concussions. Athletes who — if they are conscious – say they are ‘fine,’ coaches who may not be sure an athlete needs medical attention, and parents told by ER staff that rest is the prescription for recovery, trying to make sense of the mountain of hospital medical bills. They’ve seen it all, and it’s not easy. First responders like Anderson and Riley from Clallam County Fire District #3 in Sequim, Wash., are a luxury for school districts around the country. Part of a crew made up of paid staff and volunteers, they wait in the corners until given the signal by a coach or referee, or a player goes down and stays there. Like other on-field personnel they can’t see every impact and don’t always know if an athlete is deteriorating on the bench after a big hit. They depend on an educated coaching staff and fellow teammates for their cues. Anderson said,”We’d like to be called sooner rather than later. If there’s any question, especially with a suspected concussion, call us.” Too little care Only about 42 percent of high schools nationally employ athletic trainers, a dismal number in the eyes of many concussion experts who continue to advise against any school district or private organization offering contact sports without proper sideline medical care. Given the budget crises facing many school districts, it is not surprising so few heed this advice. But the challenges in rural areas are even greater. Long distances separate football fields from hospitals and fire stations can serve several high schools. Resources are simply too lean. Many sports-related concussions “Our fire department provides sideline staff for high school football games, and as many junior varsity games as we can. We consider it part of our community service effort and quite frankly, we feel strongly about protecting our student-athletes and their futures,” said District #3’s Fire Chief, Steve Vogel. His first responders have been on the sidelines at Sequim School District's games since 1982. Chief Vogel’s staff has a long history dealing with sports concussions. Former Sequim football player Adrien Gault suffered a catastrophic brain injury during a game in 2006 and was airlifted to a Seattle trauma center where doctors gave him a four-percent chance of survival. He continues to work through his recovery. This past fall, a Sequim student suffered a brain aneurysm during a Friday afternoon PE class and died a few days later. That same Friday there were six significant concussions on the football field a few hundred yards away, said a well-informed source, turning the field into a war zone. Fire District #3 was there for it all. “There were more concussions during that one game than I’ve seen in my entire career, including my time as a running back in high school,” said Anderson. “It was a rarity.” Neither he nor Riley, who played tight end in high school remember suffering concussions during their football careers. They believe they’re seeing so many due to increased awareness trickling down from the NFL. Anderson said, “I think the attention on the concussion issue in the NFL is having an affect on all levels of the game, all the way down to the youngest players.” Emergency Medical Services for Children (EMSC) Guidelines and training for first responders come in the form of online education modules and concussion-related drills practiced several times a year. Soon-to-be-released state protocols developed by emergency room physicians, critical care nurses, EMTs, and others who make up the state committee of the federal Emergency Medical Services for Children program include a sports-concussion guide for first responders. Upon distribution, this document will provide a handy reference for those who attend youth and high school athletic events. “The Emergency Medical Services for Children (EMSC) program works to ensure proper pediatric care is available on ambulances and in hospital emergency departments nationwide,” said Ian Weston, Co-Director of the EMSC program headquartered in suburban Wash. D.C. “Emergency care providers are integral in ensuring our children get the right care when it counts.” When to call 911 Concussion symptoms can be subtle and may not appear right away, leaving room for mistakes to be made if athletes are not properly monitored when a concussion is suspected. The following are symptoms that require a call for emergency evaluation: •headaches that worsen •seizures •neck pain •very drowsy, can't be awakened •repeated vomiting •increasing confusion or irritability •weakness, numbness in arms and legs •unable to recognize people/places, less responsive than usual For more information see Should we call 911?, signs and symptoms Photo: (L) John Riley (firefighter/paramedic); (R) Travis Anderson (firefighter/EMT) Questions/comments? contact Jean Rickerson at jean@SportsConcussions.org

As female participation in sports grows rapidly, there is a popular notion that there are gender-related differences in athletes' responses to sports-related concussion, and prior research has supported these gender discrepancies. However, a Vanderbilt University Medical Center study, conducted to review symptoms and neurocognitive findings in male and female high school soccer players, shows no gender-related differences. "There has been good data that suggests girls score worse on neurocognitive testing following a sports-related concussion. Our hypothesis was that a tightly-controlled study would replicate what others have shown previously," said Scott Zuckerman, M.D., a neurosurgery resident who conducted the study with colleagues at the Vanderbilt Sports Concussion Center. The researchers selected 40 male and 40 female concussed patients who were matched, as closely as possible, for age, medical/psychiatric history, years of education, lack of special education assistance, history of psychiatric treatment, number of prior concussions, timing of pre- and post-concussion testing, and sport (all engaged in soccer). This is the first study to control for type of sport played when looking a gender differences, Zuckerman said. "Prior studies have used mixed groups of athletes from a variety of sports. We suspected that since concussions vary from sport to sport (i.e., helmets vs. none, varying biomechanical forces, etc.), if the variable of sport was controlled, gender differences might disappear." The only significant gender-related difference they could identify was that female soccer players reported a greater number of symptoms post-concussion. There were no significant differences in post-concussion neurocognitive scores. "We were somewhat surprised and were not sure what to expect in such a tightly controlled population," Zuckerman said. "Our hypothesis was that females would experience greater levels of acute, post-concussive, neurocognitive impairment than males, fitting with what most of the prior literature says, but we found virtually no difference between males and females." Zuckerman said this is a significant finding for the treatment of sports-related concussion. "When we see any child after concussion, we don't want to make snap decisions based on gender. Gender may not be as big a modifying factor as previously thought." This study is the first from V-SCoRe, or Vanderbilt Sports Concussion Research. Collaborators include Allen Sills, M.D., Gary Solomon, Ph.D., Andrew Gregory, M.D., Alex Diamond, D.O., and Jonathan Forbes, M.D., and medical students Mitchell Odom and Young Lee. "This effort is just getting off the ground, and we're investigating many more modifying factors in concussion, including age, sleep, symptoms, prior history of attention deficit disorder," Zuckerman said. "Our goal is to create new knowledge in this area and help providers better understand when a young athlete can return to play safely." Story Source: The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Vanderbilt University Medical Center, via Newswise. Journal Reference: Scott Zuckerman et al. Response to acute concussive injury in soccer players: is gender a modifying factor? Clinical article. Journal of Neurosurgery: Pediatrics, 2012 DOI: 10.3071/2012.8.PEDS1239

Concern over longevity issues stemming from a string of injuries including back-to-back concussions, may have contributed to Chris Owusu's omission from the first seven rounds of the NFL draft this weekend. But Stanford's talented receiver, who turned in one of the fastest times in the 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine in February and was considered a possible top 100 prospect during his senior year, was signed by the San Francisco 49ers shortly after the draft concluded on Saturday. Owusu, one of Andrew Luck's go-to receivers missed the end of his senior season including two Bowl games after suffering two concussions in three weeks, his third in a little more than a year. Admitting to frustration because his symptoms cleared rapidly after each injury, he was not authorized by Cardinal physicians to return. Considered a third-round talent, Sports Illustrated's Jim Trotter spoke to several general managers about Owusu. "He's off our board," says one general manager. "He was from the start. It wouldn't matter if he was RG3, he'd still be off our board. With that kind of history it's not worth the risk of him being seriously injured, especially with all the attention you're going to receive. If you draft him you're going to be under the microscope the whole time. Every time he gets hit it's going to be magnified tenfold." For the 49ers, Owusu was too good to pass up. "Chris wasn't wiped off our board," 49ers general manager Trent Baalke said Saturday when he met the media at the conclusion of the draft. "You've got to remember, he was cleared to play by the same group of doctors that work with us on a regular basis. He certainly was not off our board," according to NBC SportsGroup. Owusu was taking part in a Stanford School of Medicine research project when he suffered at least one of his concussions. Researchers recorded impact data from players wearing high-tech mouthguards in an effort to gain a better understanding of the forces that cause the injury. Source: Read more: https://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/jim_trotter/04/25/draft.concussions/index.html#ixzz1tSyGvhE8 Questions/comments? contact Jean Rickerson at Jean@SportsConcussions.org Photo: (c) Maveric2003@creativecommons

Bronx, NY — Patients vary widely in their response to concussion, but scientists haven’t understood why. Now, using a new technique for analyzing data from brain imaging studies, researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University andMontefiore Medical Center have found that concussion victims have unique spatial patterns of brain abnormalities that change over time. The new technique could eventually help in assessing concussion patients, predicting which head injuries are likely to have long-lasting neurological consequences, and evaluating the effectiveness of treatments, according to lead author Michael L. Lipton, M.D., Ph.D., associate director of the Gruss Magnetic Resonance Research Center at Einstein and medical director of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) services at Montefiore. The findings are published today in the online edition of Brain Imaging and Behavior. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that more than one million Americans sustain a concussion (also known as mild traumatic brain injury, or mTBI) each year. Concussions in adults result mainly from motor vehicle accidents or falls. At least 300,000 adults and children are affected by sports-related concussions each year. While most people recover from concussions with no lasting ill effects, as many as 30 percent suffer permanent impairment – undergoing a personality change or being unable to plan an event. A 2003 federal study called concussions “a serious public health problem” that costs the U.S. an estimated $80 billion a year. Previous imaging studies found differences between the brains of people who have suffered concussions and normal individuals. But those studies couldn’t assess whether concussion victims differ from one another. “In fact, most researchers have assumed that all people with concussions have abnormalities in the same brain regions,” said Dr. Lipton, who is also associate professor of radiology, ofpsychiatry and behavioral sciences, and in the Dominick P. Purpura Department of Neuroscience at Einstein. “But that doesn’t make sense, since it is more likely that different areas would be affected in each person because of differences in anatomy, vulnerability to injury and mechanism of injury.” In the current study, the Einstein researchers used a recently developed MRI technique called diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) on 34 consecutive patients (19 women and 15 men aged 19 to 64) diagnosed with mTBI at Montefiore in the Bronx and on 30 healthy controls. The patients were imaged within two weeks of injury and again three and six months afterward. The imaging data were then analyzed using a new software tool called Enhanced Z-score Microstructural Assessment Pathology (EZ-MAP), which allows researchers for the first time to examine microstructural abnormalities across the entire brain of individual patients. EZ-MAP was developed by Dr. Lipton and his colleagues at Einstein. DTI detects subtle damage to the brain by measuring the direction of diffusion of water in white matter. The same technology was used by Dr. Lipton and his team in widely publicized research on more than 30 amateur soccer players who had all played the sport since childhood. They found that frequent headers showed brain injury similar to that seen in patients with concussion. The uniformity of diffusion direction – an indicator of whether tissue has maintained its microstructural integrity – is measured on a zero-to-one scale called fractional anisotropy (FA). In the latest study, areas of abnormally low FA (reflecting abnormal brain regions) were observed in concussion patients but not in controls. Each concussion patient had a unique spatial pattern of low FA that evolved over the study period. Surprisingly, each patient also had a unique, evolving pattern of abnormally high FA distinct from the areas of low FA. “We found widespread high FA at every time point, all the way out to six months and even in patients more than one year out from their injury.” said Dr. Lipton. “We suspect that high FA represents a response to the injury. In other words, the brain may be trying to compensate for the injury by developing and enhancing other neural connections. This is a new and unexpected finding.” At present, diagnosis of concussions is based mainly on the nature of the patient’s accident and the presence of symptoms including headache, dizziness and behavioral abnormalities. DTI, combined with EZ-MAP analysis, might offer a more objective tool for diagnosing concussion injuries and for predicting which patients will have persistent and progressive symptoms. The paper is titled “Robust Detection of Traumatic Axonal Injury in Individual Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Patients: Intersubject Variation, Change Over Time and Bidirectional Changes in Anisotropy.” Contributors include Namhee Kim, Ph.D.; Tova M. Gardin, B.A.; Keivan Shifteh, M.D.; Mimi Kim, Sc.D.; Molly E. Zimmerman, Ph.D.; Richard B. Lipton, M.D.; and Craig A. Branch, Ph.D., all of Einstein and Montefiore; and Young Park, M.D., who earned his degree from Einstein; and Miriam Hulkower, a medical student at Einstein. Source: Novel Brain Imaging Technique Explains Why Concussions Affect People Differently Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University -- Newswise; June 9, 2012 Questions/comments? contact Jean Rickerson at jean@SportsConcussions.org

As a new womens' lacrosse referee I initially had mixed feelings about the ongoing debate on the use of helmets in play. Listening to the discussion in referee training sessions that stressed the finesse of the game and the need of the referee to control or slow down play, verses the struggle I felt as a person having a medical degree and realizing the potential hazards of brain injuries, I tried to see both sides. Some people think that helmets will make the game more physical. But after my first official day as a referee standing on the sidelines watching my daughter’s middle school team begin their game, my beliefs became clear. Female lacrosse players need to wear helmets. During the first eight minutes of the game there were three injuries, one related to a child’s head and neck. This player had been checked from behind causing her neck to snap back. She then fell and hit her head on the turf. I witnessed every parent’s/referee’s/coach’s nightmare: a player down and seizing. To my dismay, this player returned to play in less than three weeks and went on to have another concussion and seizure. She is now barred from impact sports for the rest of her life. What I found out about my local school district surprised me and motivated me to try to educate parents and give people the best information possible. After speaking to the athletic trainers in my school district, I was made aware that high school students are given baseline concussion testing but younger players are not. We are now in the process of offering that testing to younger players. Also, while coaches can have in-person or online concussion training it seems that more could be done to help the coaches and parents become more informed about concussions. There are numerous issues that could explain the high incidence of concussions in women's lacrosse. One might be to consider the nutrition and health of girls playing the game today. Both men and women today are better nourished and physically stronger, faster and more powerful than the players of previous years. This has created a weight imbalance as some players can actually outweigh others by a large margin. The physics of combining speed and extra mass can lead to a dangerous combination. Equipment has also evolved to allow for lighter and faster sticks, causing unintended hits in some instances, I'm sure. Another factor is the increase in new players due to the popularity of the sport. Putting players of different skill levels in the same game can set up a difficult dynamic. It is important for players to be aware of their body position in space and reference to other players. This is a skill that comes with time and coaching. Coaching is another aspect of the game that helps teams work together better and control the speed of their game. Neck strengthening exercises can decrease the whiplash motion often caused by a hit to the cranial region. As for me, I have now completed my first season as a referee. I feel that helmets and proper body equipment in womens' lacrosse will make the game safer for everyone. My feeling is that there are too many factors that increase the potential for head injuries and we should mitigate them as best we can. While I realize helmets do not prevent concussions, I do believe they would be helpful to protect young women from unintended hits to the head. Dr. Lori McGowan is an Adjunct Professor of Biology at Harrisburg Area Community College in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

It is not yet known why girls suffer concussions at a higher rate than boys. The most prevalent theories range from lesser neck and upper body strength, to better reporting among females, to hormonal differences. Researchers at Emory University in Atlanta are currently in the third phase of a clinical trial designed to determine if the hormone progesterone, normally associated with female reproductive processes, can protect damaged neurons. Administered within four hours of the injury and lasting for three days, results of the treatment have been positive so far. Although catastrophic injuries in sports are rare, the question regarding applicability of a related treatment for concussion remains open. Pilot study highlighted efficacy Every 15 seconds, someone in the United States sustains a significant traumatic brain injury. Approximately 2 million adults and children in the United States suffer from traumatic brain injuries each year - leading to 50,000 deaths and 80,000 new cases of long-term disability, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Despite the enormity of the problem, scientists have failed to identify effective medications to improve outcomes following a traumatic brain injury. Emory researchers, however, concluded in an earlier pilot clinical trial that giving progesterone to trauma victims shortly following brain injury appears to be safe and may reduce the risk of death and long-term disability. Their previous three-year study, called ProTECT I (Progesterone for Traumatic brain injury--Experimental Clinical Treatment), enrolled 100 participants at Grady Memorial Hospital. It was designed to evaluate whether progesterone can be administered intravenously in a safe and reliable way. "We found evidence that progesterone is not only safe for use in patients suffering from traumatic brain injuries," says Wright. "We also found a 50 percent reduction in mortality in those patients treated with progesterone. Even though this was a small pilot study, we found signs that progesterone improved functional outcomes and reduced disability in patients with moderate brain injury. "By expanding our test sites to 17 major trauma centers across 15 states and enrolling more than 1,000 patients, we hope to confirm these preliminary findings and determine if progesterone benefits victims of acute traumatic brain injury," says Wright. Progesterone common in males and females Progesterone is naturally present in small but measurable amounts in the brains of males and females. Human brain tissue is loaded with progesterone receptors. Laboratory studies suggest that progesterone is critical for the normal development of neurons in the brain and exerts protective effects on damaged brain tissue. Donald G. Stein, PhD, Asa G. Candler Professor of Emergency Medicine, Emory School of Medicine, and director of Emory's Department of Emergency Medicine Brain Research Laboratory, pioneered discoveries regarding the effect of progesterone following traumatic brain injury - first discovering the neuro-protective properties of progesterone in the laboratory more than 25 years ago. "The results that we are now seeing, and hope to continue validating, are an incredible and gratifying reward for more than 25 years of concentrated research," says Stein. "My work first started when I began to notice evidence that women tended to respond to treatment and recover better than men after suffering from brain injury and stroke. Many people do not realize that it's not just a female hormone; both men and women produce progesterone directly in the brain, as well as other tissue. "Ultimately, we learned that progesterone basically does in brain injuries what it also does during fetal development - protect cells and tissue," says Stein. "To now witness the translation of this laboratory research into a treatment that may have life-saving benefits is breathtaking." Source: A Hormonal Remedy for Brain Injuries is Explored --The New York Times -- June 21, 2012 Atlanta To Serve as National Epicenter for Promising Phase III Brain Injury Treatment Trial - Emory University Photo courtesy of (c) 2008 Eddy Grady@creativecommons.com Questions/comments? contact Jean Rickerson at jean@SportsConcussions.org

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment (NOCSAE) issued a warning to athletes and parents of athletes to thoroughly understand the extent of protection provided by – or not provided by – athletic equipment worn while playing sports. This warning follows claims made by several companies that products such as head bands, supplements or mouth guards reduce the incident of concussion. NOCSAE issued the warning at the onset of its summer meeting held this year in Kansas City. NOCSAE is an independent organization with the dual purpose of setting standards for the performance of athletic equipment and funding research necessary to advance the science of sports. Through NOCSAE's independent process, physicians, academic researchers, coaches, trainers and manufacturers come together to establish standards based on accepted science and reliable data. "Parents, athletes and coaches are becoming more informed about concussions, and this increased awareness is vitally important to advancing athlete safety. But it also creates a demand for quick solutions. Unfortunately there are quick solutions offered for sale which have neither scientific nor medical support that validate their claims to prevent or reduce concussions," said Mike Oliver, NOCSAE executive director. "Any device or supplement promoted as being able to prevent, diagnose or cure a concussion must be supported by scientific data and peer-reviewed research. Currently there is no definitive scientific research linking mouth guards, head bands, supplements or other specialty products to a reduction in concussion risk or severity. For companies to suggest otherwise misleads athletes, parents and coaches into a dangerous false sense of protection against concussion. NOCSAE warns athletes and parents of athletes to get the facts about sports equipment and concussion protection and not rely solely on marketing and promotional materials when making equipment decisions." NOCSAE does not maintain any standards for such products, and, therefore, no such products can be claimed as meeting the NOCSAE standards. While protective equipment certified to the NOCSAE standard play an incredibly important role in protecting athletes on the field of play, they should be not the primary approach to protecting against concussion. Learning to avoid unnecessary head impacts, reporting concussion symptoms to a coach or parent and following trained medical management decisions about when a concussed athlete can return to play are far more likely to prevent a concussion or reduce the chance of chronic problems that may be related to untreated concussions. For more information, please visit www.nocsae.org. About NOCSAE NOCSAE, the National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment, is an independent and nonprofit standard-setting body with the sole mission to enhance athletic safety through scientific research and the creation of performance standards for protective equipment. Formed in 1969, NOCSAE is a leading force in the effort to improve athletic equipment and, as a result, reduce injuries. NOCSAE efforts include the development of performance and test standards for football helmets and facemasks, baseball and softball batters and catchers helmets, baseballs and softballs, ice hockey helmets, soccer shin guards, lacrosse helmets and facemasks and polo helmets. NOCSAE is comprised of representatives from a number of groups which have an interest in athletic equipment – including manufacturers, reconditioners, athletic trainers, coaches, equipment managers, sports medicine and consumer organizations. These diverse interests have joined forces in an attempt to arrive at a common goal of reducing sports-related injuries. NOCSAE is a nonprofit, charitable organization supported by individuals and organizations with an interest in athletics. SOURCE: National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment (NOCSAE) Questions/comments? contact Jean Rickerson at jean@SportsConcussions.org Back to top RELATED LINKShttps://www.nocsae.org Source: PR Newswire (https://s.tt/1ezQW)

Researchers at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, found that of the 14,635 high-school sports injuries reported during the 2008-2010 school year, 13% were concussions. The majority of them were uncomplicated, in fact, 40% of the students who suffered concussions saw their symptoms disappear within three days. Most returned to play within three weeks, but a significant number -- about 25% -- returned to play the same day they were injured, a situation many state concussion laws are designed to address. "This improper practice was widespread," noted researchers Mallika Marar, Natalie McIlvain, Sarah Fields and R. Dawn Comstock, who found it in 12 of the 20 sports they studied. "This clearly violates the consensus statement on sports-related concussion, which recommends that no adolescent athlete who sustains a concussion should return to play on the day of the injury,"reported WPTV.com. Other findings included: Most common symptoms: headache (94.2%), dizziness (75.6%) and difficulty concentrating (54.8%) More than one: Eleven percent had suffered concussions before, highest rate of recurrence was boys' wrestling (20%) Most by number: football (47%) followed by girls' soccer (8.2%) Most common practices/games: games; exception was cheerleading, participants were 10x more likely to be hurt during practice Most by gender: boys; although concussions in girls' sports represented a higher number of overall injuries Most common occurrence: athlete-to-athlete contact; girls were more likely to suffer a concussion from striking the ground or being struck by another players' piece of equipment such as a hockey stick The study was published in the January edition of the American Journal of Sports Medicine. Source: Study: High school athletes return from concussion too soon -- WPTV.com Questions/comments? Contact Jean Rickerson at Jean@SportsConcussions.org

ANN ARBOR -- A grant from the NCAA will kick off a groundbreaking, long-term study of concussion and other head injuries among athletes, led by University of Michigan researchers and their colleagues around the country. The NCAA will provide $400,000 to begin to fund a longitudinal study by the National Sport Concussion Outcomes Study Consortium, a new group that includes three founding members from the University of Michigan: Jeffrey Kutcher, M.D., associate professor of neurology; James T. Eckner, M.D., assistant professor in physical medicine and rehabilitation; and Steven Broglio, Ph.D., assistant professor of kinesiology. With the NCAA grant, the Consortium will study more than 1,000 male and female college athletes who compete in 11 sports at three schools. Researchers hope to track those athletes throughout their lifetime to monitor long-term effects of head injuries.But the Consortium has even bigger plans. Kutcher says the group is seeking funding to expand the effort and begin enrolling athletes as early as high school, then follow them through college and even into professional careers. "We're hoping this could become a Framingham heart study for sports concussion," says Kutcher, referring to the study that began in 1948 with more than 5,000 people and has led to the identification of major cardiovascular disease risk factors."This study will be essential to improving our understanding of the risk to brain health for those who play sports. There is no data like this, it's groundbreaking. It will define the landscape." Kutcher and the U-M faculty founded the Consortium with Kevin Guskiewicz, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Exercise and Sport Science at the University of North Carolina; Chris Giza, M.D., of the Department of Neurology at UCLA; and Michael McCrea, Ph.D., professor of neurosurgery and neurology and director of brain injury research at the Medical College of Wisconsin. "There's a tremendous need for data that describe both the short and long-term health consequences of concussions," says Kutcher, who also is director of the Michigan Neurosport Concussion Program at U-M. "There are some hints, and a series of case reports in the literature, but no well-controlled study that addresses the long-term questions. To do that study, and do it correctly, requires following a population of athletes over time and documenting their brain function, while controlling for other variables." David Klossner, the NCAA's director of health and safety, said supporting the consortium's study will aid efforts to promote a safe competitive environment. "The NCAA is seeking to foster innovative research among its member universities to increase knowledge about the short-term and long-term neurological consequences of playing sports," Klossner said. "In addition to monitoring trends in concussions through the Association's injury-surveillance system, this research is another important step to enhance student-athlete safety." In this first phase of the study, the Consortium researchers will study athletes in contact sports in men's football, soccer, basketball, ice hockey, and lacrosse; women's water polo, soccer, basketball, field hockey, and lacrosse. Non-contact sport participants also will be recruited from the track and field and swimming and diving teams. Kutcher believes the data the study collects will provide a more comprehensive understanding of concussions. The short-term effects have been examined for several years, and technological advancements have helped improve the understanding of impacts on the brain by using shock sensors embedded in players' helmets. "There has been considerable attention paid to concussion recently, by the media and others, spurred by reports of National Football League players, hockey players — people who have had a long history of contact — having a very particular kind of dementing illness," says Kutcher. "But that story is only beginning to be told. We need to do the appropriate research to figure out the scope of the problem." Kutcher also directs the NBA's concussion program, is a consultant to the NHL Players Association and the team neurologist for the University of Michigan Athletic Department. He has been instrumental in crafting the concussion policies of the NCAA, Big Ten and Mid-American Conference. He has testified before U.S. Congress on helmet and equipment safety. For more information and free online courses about recognizing and responding to concussions, go to https://www.michiganneurosport.com/ SOURCE University of Michigan Health System Read more here: https://www.sacbee.com/2012/03/14/4336415/groundbreaking-long-term-study.html#storylink=cpy Photo: Wikimedia Commons