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SALT LAKE CITY -- NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is urging Utah and 43 other states to pass a law that protects young athletes from concussions.
"We believe that sports and political leaders can help raise awareness of these dangerous injuries and better ensure that they are treated in the proper and most effective way," Goodell says.
He thinks it should be similar to a law in Washington state, which is named after Zachery Lystedt.
When Lystedt was 13 years old, he suffered a concussion in the middle of a junior high school football game. He returned to the game and 60 seconds after it ended he collapsed because his brain was hemorrhaging.
Lystedt is now in a wheelchair with a permanent disability that could have been prevented if he had stayed out of the game.
Goodell urges governors to adopt concussion law NFL commissioner Roger Goodell sent a letter to 44 governors urging them to pass a law similar to one in Washington state that protects young athletes from concussions.
West High School athletic trainer Garth McFarland says any type of head injury is taken seriously at his school.
"Pretty much if anyone has taken a blow to the head, and they have symptoms at all, they are removed from the game," McFarland says.
Statewide, it is not mandatory for a student to be removed from a game unless they lose consciousness. However, the Utah High School Activities Association has adopted a set of uniform guidelines for all sports for the next school year, which are similar to the law in Washington.
The Lystedt law contains three essential elements:
- Athletes, parents and coaches must be educated about the dangers of concussions each year
- If a young athlete is suspected of having a concussion, he or she must be removed from a game or practice and not be permitted to return to play.
- A licensed health care professional must clear the young athletes to return to play in the subsequent days or weeks
"These are great recommendations that I've been following for several years," says Dr. Joyce Soprano, emergency room physician at Primary Children's Medical Center.
It contains contains three essential elements:
- Athletes, parents and coaches must be educated about the dangers of concussions each year.
- If a young athlete is suspected of having a concussion, he/she must be removed from a game or practice and not be permitted to return to play.
- A licensed health care professional must clear the young athlete to return to play in the subsequent days or weeks.
Soprano says it has taken a lot of years for these guidelines to filter into school athletics.
"Some people used to think, 'Oh, it's just a ding or a minor little injury' and would let kids go back and play sports even on the same day of injury. We'd like to change that way of thinking," she says.
McFarland agrees education is the key.
"We let athletes know what the results can be. The thing we are concerned most about is Second Impact Syndrome," he says.
Second Impact Syndrom occurs when the athlete is hit in the head again before the initial injury has healed.
"It can cause serious problems, even death, and that's what we want to prevent," McFarland says.
Soprano says young athletes are especially vulnerable.
"We know that the young brain takes longer to heal than even in a college-level athlete," she says.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that there may be as many as 3.8 million sports- and recreation-related concussions in the United State each year.
E-mail: cmadsen@ksl.com
