The Globe had a story today comparing the number of sports related head injuries at 26 area high schools.
Newton South High School and Marshfield High School and had the highest reported number of head injuries (27 each), with Lexington (24), Duxbury (20) and Wakefield (18). But I’m n0t really sure how to interpret that data, since it doesn’t seems to seem to be weighed to reflect the sizes of the student population and what I assume are different athletic programs.
More surprising was the fact that Newton North High School had just six reported injuries.
So why were there 27 at South and six at North?
Is it that the program at North is doing a better job protecting kids heads? Or — as one expert quoted in the story notes –could it be that the program at South is more careful in its reporting.
“Paradoxically, the high school with the highest number is probably doing a better job than the high school with the lowest number, which is probably under-recognizing more,’’ said Robert [Cantu, clinical professor of neurosurgery at Boston University School of Medicine.Cantu].
I wonder if there are more single parent numbers per student population ratio at North?
Well the article pointed out there is the issue of whether some schools are just doing as better job of getting kids to report on these injuries. So,for example, is NSHS programs more dangerous or is NNHS underreporting? What’s the yardstick, and how uniformly is it being applied?
Schlock – what the heck does single parent numbers have to do with head injuries?
The data is for REPORTING Head trauma and as Dr. Cantu points out, the schools with the greatest number of reported head trauma are doing a better job of identifying it.
The schools in the report use the same equipment, follow the same rules of the game and play on the same fields (a mix of natural and artificial). But some of these schools have embraced a higher level of awareness of head trauma.
This is the case in Newton. In 2008, as president of the Newton South Booster Club, I brought the IMPACT program (a computerized concussion evaluation program) to South and we (the Booster Club) paid for it’s application. It took a couple of seasons for it to be fully implemented but it was ultimately embraced and is now very effectively utilized, as many parents of kids who have been concussed will attest. For a successful program, there has to be buy-in by the administration, coaches, trainers and parents. This heightened awareness makes athletes more willing to speak up, coaches more likely to take action and parents more aware of the issues and therefore the numbers of kids who report head trauma increase.
The value of the IMPACT program at South was self-evident and the city needed very little convincing to make it a standard for all athletes in Newton from middle school on up, beginning last year.
The difference in the numbers between North and South can be attributed to the longer time that South has had an concussion awareness program. Those numbers should start to even out as the programs mature.
Thanks Terry.
But if I was the parent of a North athlete, the fact that the numbers will even out would probably be of little comfort. Should I be concerned with that the school is not paying enough attention to this now?
@Greg – From what Terry said it sounds like North was paying attention, saw the results at South and already implemented the same program last year. It sounds like they’ve already done a pretty good job addressing it.
BTW – That headline sounds like the beginning of a bad joke 🙂
This is the problem with penalizing institutions for reporting bad events (whether head injuries in sports or medical mistakes at hospitals) – it makes the places that are most thorough about catching and reporting errors look bad and gives disincentives for doing the right thing. Kudos to Cantu for pointing this out, and kudos to Terry for bringing the IMPACT program to Newton.
I wouldn’t jump to that conclusion based on the data from one season that was voluntarily given to the Globe and up for interpretation by whoever sent the data (Do we include concussions that are evaluated at school but happen during club games? Those that happened in pre-season?). The numbers that get sent to the State at the end of the year should be more accurate.
The implementation of the IMPACT program and the awareness that goes with it is a mighty leap forward for the evaluation and handling of head trauma. Concussion awareness is growing in society, as we’ve seen in professional hockey and football and we’re seeing a sea-change in the recognition and handling of these injuries from just a few years ago.
Comments above intended for Greg.
Thanks mgwa. As you point out, the Globe numbers are self reported by the schools and there may be a bias towards massaging them a little.
(BTW, how does a fellow who looks like Fabio know so much about head injuries?….never mind I think I just answered my own question)
MGWA, I am wondering if there are any similarities based upon social, emotional, economic differences between the two high schools. I am not drawing conclusions, merely exploring cultural observations in a way which perhaps will help us to better understand.
Terry deserves a great deal of credit, here. By creating a base line prior to potential injury, IMPACT provides an empirical basis for making a more reasonable assessment of an injury. And if I am not mistaken, Terry has also worked to get IMPACT introduced into the middle schools, which are seeing their share of head injuries as well.
Sports are an important part of development, and the fact is that football, lacrosse, soccer, baseball, wrestling and even basketball all involve the possibility of a head injury. It is a very unsettling decision for a parent to send their kid back on the field after something like this. Terry’s efforts have helped provide parents and coaches the tools to make a rational, rather than an emotional decision when these events happen.
Terry- do you know which Middle Schools had/have IMPACT testing?
The reason I ask is that my child got a concussion during an afterschool sports practice and we were not even notified. I realized that there was a medical issue when I picked up my son from School and I immediately brought him to the hospital and the concussion was so severe it took over 3 months for it to resolve. Not a mild one that the coach could have missed.
I know that this year or actually next month the State is requiring a head injury policy and the Newton Schools will be requiring Impact testing prior to starting a sport. Their Head Injury Policy hopefully will work to educate all the coaches about this. The bottom line IMHO is that at the middle school level the coaches are not trained in the sport they coach nor did at least one coach have any clue as to how to handle a pretty serious concussion. You can do all the testing you want but if the coaches dont understand when a kid should be pulled from the game and seek medical treatment it really is only a first step.
I would also add from what I have heard from NNHS parents is that NNHS coaches try to push kids back into the game and do not or dont want to recognize the severity of their injurys. Hopefully this will change with the state policy and more awareness.
Joanne,
An injury like that had to be frightening. I hope your child is healthy and back playing sports.
Newton Public Schools have adopted a policy of IMPACT testing every applicable school athlete from grade 7-12 city-wide. If your child is on a school team this year, he/she should have been tested and the baseline should be available for your doctors.
As you say, there’s a great variability in coaching awareness and training. I hope that the new standards and the attention that head injuries are getting raise the quality of care for our young athletes.
We’ve come a long way from the days when “getting your bell rung” was a badge of honor.
In college, one of our wrestlers got a concussion in a car accident shortly before the season. He had terrible headaches and nausea but tried to compete. In practice, there were times when he was a total wreck. Our coach, neanderthal that he was, would ridicule him by implying that he was “dogging it” (being lazy) and would push the kid way beyond healthy limits. You can imagine what wrestling with a concussion must be like. There was little understanding about what a concussion really was and the effects, both long term and short. I hope that our coaches (and athletes) are finally moving beyond the neanderthal model and toward a more enlightened one.
@Terry – That’ some great work you and the Booster Club did getting this program into the schools. The present and future brains of Newton are in your debt.
BTW – I do love that targeted blog advertising. As I type this I’m looking at an advertisement for carbon fiber helmets.
@Terry. Thank you for all the work you have done on this problem. Somehow it doesn’t surprise me that you are into good stuff like this. It never ceases to amaze me how some coaches and parent (I assume it is a small minority) will throw caution to the wind in instances where a kid’s health and even their life may be hanging in the balance.
Terri needs to be commended, my daughter while playing Newton South Woman’s Soccer in 2009 had a double head injury where she was knocked unconscious and hit the ground on the front of her head. My daughter lost a year of school and had headaches up to eighteen months post concussion. We have sat in countless doctors offices and my daughter has had multiple MRI’s EEG’s and other imaging but due to the Impact test that the Newton South Booster Club paid for my daughter recuperation was monitored against her baseline impact test.
While Terri might be challenged with hair growth on his head he does have some good ideas in that head.
Terry – do you know which schools had in the past the Impact testing? Was it just NSHS and their feeder middle schools or was it citywide?
Joanne, none of the middle schools started IMPACT testing until this year. Newton South started in 2009.
I detect a lot of jealousy about my hair. Not a lot of people have the genetic make-up, fortitude and hair products necessary to maintain these flowing locks. As I’ve always said, “if you’ve got it, flaunt it!” Eat your hearts out…