Concussions in contact sports and what can be implemented to prevent them in the future and make participants safer.

Introduction

Participation in contact sports, encompassing football, ice hockey, soccer, boxing, lacrosse, wrestling and basketball, carries a risk of gentle traumatic mind wound, or concussion. The risk of concussion is furthermore bigger in other sports and undertakings, such as gymnastics, skiing, sledding, ice skating, rollerblading and horseback riding. In football solely, an estimated 10 per hundred of school players and 20 per hundred of high school players maintain mind injuries each season.

Concussion in an athlete may proceed untreated because couple of symptoms are visible to casual observers. In supplement, an athlete may experience considerable emotional force to restart sports participation. This pressure can come from spectators, coaches and the sports newspapers, as well as the athlete's own desire to take part in the sport.

Multiple concussions over months or years may outcome in cumulative neuropsychologic deficits.(Blignaut, 5)Repeated concussions over a short period may lead to the second influence syndrome. In this syndrome, a concussion sustained while an athlete is still symptomatic from an previous concussion outcomes in progressive cerebral edema.

Increased perception of the promise for complications, including cumulative neuropsychologic effects and the second influence syndrome, in athletes with concussion has resulted in the development of guidelines for the assessment and administration of mild traumatic brain injury in sports.(Stenger, 273) If physicians are aware of the symptoms and promise complications of concussion, as well as the recommendations for management and avoidance of this injury, they can do much to limit disabling problems in athletes at all levels of play.(Winters, 339)

Definitions and Diagnosis

The common sign of traumatic mind wound in sports is an acute alteration in mental rank that may or may not engage decrease of consciousness after the traumatic event. The severity of the injury is determined according to measures that include the presence and duration of both loss of consciousness and post-traumatic amnesia (Table 1).Conventionally, brain injuries are classified as mild, moderate or severe, based on these measures. Assessment of the severity of the brain injury facilitates determination of the prognosis for recovery, as well as administration of the injury.

TABLE 1Concussion Grading Scales

Concussion grades and definitions

Guideline

1

2

3

Cantu

No loss of consciousness

Loss of consciousness for less than 5 minutes

Loss of consciousness for more than 5 minutes

Post-traumatic amnesia for less than 30 minutes

Post-traumatic amnesia for more than 30 minutes

Post-traumatic amnesia for more than 24 hours

Colorado Medical Society

No loss of consciousness

No loss of consciousness

Loss of consciousness of any duration

No post-traumatic amnesia Confusion

Post-traumatic amnesia Confusion

American Academy of Neurology

No loss of consciousness

No loss of consciousness

Loss of consciousness of any duration

Concussion symptoms for less than 15 minutes

Concussion symptoms for more than 15 minutes

Mild traumatic brain wound has been defined as head trauma with decrease of consciousness, if any, lasting less than 30 minutes and post-traumatic amnesia lasting fewer than 24 hours. The period “concussion” is often utilised in the medical literature as a synonym for a mild traumatic brain injury. If a concussion is managed appropriately, the prognosis for complete recovery is ...