Nice story on Michael and his history of concussions and a major health problem.  What about all of the "little" guys on the practice squads and JV teams?  Does anyone monitor their possible concussions as closely as the varsity teams? I NEED an NSAID!

Having a seven month old baby of our own, my husband and I are absolutely disgusted and terrified by the amounts of lead found in children's toys.  There are so many toys made in China these days that in order to find one made in the U.S.A. (and the dots are important) is like looking for a needle in a haystack.  If our government encouraged more companies to stay in America rather than giving them money to move their companies abroad perhaps we would better be able to control what is going into our children's bodies.  And here's the kicker...if all of this lead has been found in products for our CHILDREN just IMAGINE what is being put in products that we ADULTS use everyday!!!  The thought is overwhelming!  We NEED answers!  What products are SAFE for our children?

I find it more than a little surprising that this entire story there was not one mention of the first and best line of protection for these kids and that is having access to a Certified Athletic Trainer.  In fact one of the leading sources on concussion should be the National Athletic Trainers' Association, afterall athletic trainers are responsible for the health care of student athletes at virtually every high school football game in the United States.  Please encourage your schools to employ the services of a Certified Athletic Trainer.

My son suffered a concussion last fall playing in a city league.  He was 10.  He is still having lasting effects like migraines, numbness in his left arm, tingling in his fingers and major short term memory loss.  All that with a minor concussion.  You should have seen the images the neurologist gave us of his brain.  He had a bleeder in his left frontal lobe.  Now we have to deal with the statement from his doctor that he should never play again.  Anyone have ideas for me?

another good resource on health related matters is your local high school registered nurse, licensed/ certified athletic trainer, and family practitioner.

Mr. Williams,
GREAT stuff on health Thank you for caring about the Public, We don't get much in the way of real info. Perhaps you will consider doing a piece on the leading cause of liver transplants & cancer in this country. With 40 million here & 170 million world wide infected with Hep C; its a epidemic/pandemic. The USA geno type 1B is killing us (10,000+ yearly)
if you're african american you really are out of luck, they are completely EXCLUDED from ALL clinical trials & don't have any prospects for a treatment. USA youth are getting Tattoos & don't realize that is a DANGEROUS way of getting it, I got it from accupunture, its slowly robbing me of my life day by day. You NEVER hear anything about it yet it's main reason organ donor lists are begging for livers.
We are bombarded with ED & restless legs, But Not a word about a silent epidemic that's nation & worldwide
Thanks for listenig & doing a show that atleast focuses on health...
Much respect Nancy  

Yes, nice story on concussions.  But lets not forget other contact sports and girls.  My daughter sustained one concussion at age 14 playing soccer.  And another very severe one her freshman year playing basketball.  She suffered all the classic symptoms, plus loss of conciousness and memory. The memory loss was quit significant.  A year and half later, she never regained her long term memory and struggles in school.  Needless to say, no more contact sport for her.  I wish this story had not made this subject seem like just a boy/football health issue.  My daughter loves soccer and still has a hard time with the fact she will never play on the highschool team.  (she had played travel since 4th grade) We need to look at better protective gear and educate parents and coaches on reconizing the symptoms of concussions.  Some sports such as soccer do not even recognize the importance of head gear.  Once your child has had a concussion, there is not much information and help out there.  We still have alot of unaswered questions.

Why not basketball for this kid? Unless he's heading for the NFL, why risk it? He looked big enough for any sport. Good story.

To TJN and all others out there looking for information on concussions and brain injury, please check with the Brain Injury Association of America (www.biausa.org) for information and links to organizations in your state. The Center for Disease Control is also a good source for information and offers free concussion information on their website (http://www.cdc.gov/Features/HeadsUp/). Every coach should order this information!

It's not just sports. My daughter does color guard (spinning rifles/sabres/flags, etc.)She has had two concussions from the rifle and one from a flag. No one cared. Her friend in a national drum corp. had a concussion from a rifle that resulted in her being sidelined from contact activity permanently. As a speech-language pathologist I see the results of even minor head injury daily. It's a serious matter. So why do we have elementary kids playing contact football? And soccer games with untrained coaches and no medical support?

This is a huge problem that is seriously misunderstood by parents and school officials. My daughter sustained a severe concussion while participating in color guard. She was teased and belittled by her band director for "being a baby". She ended up missing many days of school and suffered a severe depression that almost prevented her graduation.

One of the best ways to help in recognizing and deal with concussions in high school athletics would be for more schools to hire Certified Athletic Trainers. Our school of only 260 students has one and he is at our school as a teacher/athletic trainer.  The decesion making process is taken out of coaches hands and put into a trained professional. Thanks NBC for the story.

While concussion is an ofter misunderstood and under reported entity,there definately ARE useful sources of information and help "out there".

The CDC, American College of Sports Medicine, The American Academy of Family Physicians and the National Athletic Trainers Association all have excellent resources available to anyone. The CDC has an excellent head injury kit (see link above) and the National Athletic Trainers Association has published an excellent comprehensive position statement on prevention and management of concussion.

If your high school has an athletic trainer I would start there -- they are trained specifically to recognize and manage these circumstances and also are excellent sources for referral information. If you are lucky to have a team Physician, esp who is fellowship trained in sports medicine, he or she will also be an excellent referral source. Finally, almost every community has a traumatic brain injury discussion or support group that can offer assistance and advice as well as common shared experiences that will remind your daughter that she is not alone and life does not cease with the cessation of a sport. Check with your hospital for info on that end.

These injuries can be devastating but fortunately, assessment is improving, kids and coaches are recognizing the importance of honest communication and the medical community is much more adept at determining when it is safe to return to play. It is an evolving work in progress that will only continue to improve.

This was a great piece.  As a 20 year veteran high school certified athletic trainer, concussions are very high on my radar.  These injuries, whether with boys or girls athletics, are constantly on the look for.  There are still a lot of misconceptions on what a concussion is, how to tell is someone has one, how to take care of it and when an athlete should return to play.  Another great resource for athletes, parents and coaches is the position statement on sport related concussions from the National Athletic Trainers Association, http://www.nata.org/statements/position/concussion.pdf
Thank you shedding some light on this injury.

As a parent of of child who suffered a concussion a few short weeks ago, it can be truly frightening for the student and the parents.  In some ways the coaching staff was excellent. In other ways, lacking, mostly from a lack of education.  Fortunately as a parent, I had access to other source of help and we were able to refer him to IMPACT testing within a couple days of the injury.  After repeating the testing, he was approved to play providing he did the necessary conditioning to work him back into play.  As a parent, the best advice I can offer is educate yourself and don't be afraid to ask questions and to challenge answers that you don't understand. My son isn't destined for a collegiate scholarship in sports, but to play his senior year has been his dream since he was a little boy.  Yes, I will watch tonight with mixed emotions, but having the resources to make informed decisions regarding his injury helped, me, my son, and his head coach make the decision about what was in his best interest

My daughter suffered concussions frequently in gymnastics and the coaches never told the parents.   It would come to my attention the next day when she was vomiting and had a headache.  Of course they were put right back on the bars or beam immediately after smacking their heads on the mats.  It's not just football and boys.  I agree with LSA from Michigan that concussions may lead to depression and other mental health issues.

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