Post Concussion Syndrome - anyone?

I've had it on multiple occasions. My worst was from a car accident. I felt OK the next day til I played soccer. When I would look up to head the ball on goalie punts the world would start to spin. Wasn't pretty. I went to see a doctor and my symptoms progressively got worse. Headaches and other symptoms you described. Keep in mind this was awhile ago and concussions are treated a lot more seriously than then. I had a scan to make sure no bleeding etc, but everything passed off in about a month. Good luck. I hope everything turns out well. See all the doctors you can until you are satisfied.

 

Had a daughter take a ball to the head in practice- wasn't looking so didnt' protect herself, but same result. Pediatrician sent her to neurologist/concussion clinic at our local childrens hospital- glad you are going to the same. They wrote her permission out of class as needed, extended time for tests until symptoms resolved and even diminished homework until she could read without headaches.
Concussions are a challenge since they are really invisible. Best thing you can do is support your child, give them plenty of time to rest and recover. It is very helpful that there is way more attention to this now and they are taking it seriously. These problems long term can be very dangerous!

 

Had aplayer with the same symptoms. The trainer kept player out of the sport for a month and gradually the symptoms subsided.The dr. provided a note to all teachers to make them aware of the situation and how it will affect class work. Many teachers are unaware. Just be aware that once they get a concussion it is easier to get them and you must be sure to keep them out for the appropraite amount of time to allow the brain to heal.

 

when i was 15, i had three concussions over 15 months: 2 from riding and one from playing backyard football(tackle, no pads). i ony lost consiousness with the football one and i also do not remember hitting my head. they said i tackled and hit someone's knee. all i remember was waiting for the snap and then everyone was standing over me so i lost some memory from before i was even hit as well. each time it took me a bit longer to recover. our doctor told me that if i had another he would ban me from riding/sports for a year. i had another pretty serious one in a car accident when i was 20. with each one i had the same symtoms as your DD and with time they all went away.
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now that i am 40something, recently(last 3 years)i can't remember anything, sometimes i can't concentrate for even short periods of time. sometimes it seems the harder i try to concentrate, the more lost i get. it affected my work. i wonder how much the concussions have to do with it.

Real Sports just had a show dealing with multiple concussions in the NFL, brian westbrook and another player. it was a good show.

while i was just like you DD and she should be proud that she mad the save, she doesn't realize how much future she has ahead of her. she needs to be very careful and honest with you about how she is feeling. i was not because i didn't want to be restricted.

good luck!

 

My son suffered a concussion back in early october. High bal that he didn't go for, got kicked in the head and wend head first in to the ground. He actually went back in the game within the next 3 minutes but after a day of headaches a trip to the neurologist confirmed our fears. Almost 4 months of no sports: no soccer, no swimming, no running. He even had to sit out of gym class. And all during that time he had a non-stop headache. He was on limited school for the first couple of weeks: 3 hours on, 1 hour off and he spent a lot of time sleeping.

He was cleared to for limited athletics within the last week and by limited they mean no contact. So while he is allowed to swim again as well as train with his team he has to sit down when they scrimmage

His endurance is gone. He was huffing and puffing like a 6 pack a day smoker (ok I might be exaggerating a little but you know what I mean) but it was only his second practice being back.

My advice? Don't push the recovery time and make sure the kid isn't lying to the doctor about how she feels because kids tend to do that. Oh and kiss away most of this season.

 

Doctors are taking head injuries much more seriously then they did in the past and now schools seem to be following suit. My daughter's school is now doing pre season cognitive testing in case a head injury occurs during the sport season. If an athlete can not test after an injury to the same level, they can not play until they do.

There are some pretty scary stories out there too, so you and your daughter (who I am sure considers herself invincable) should take this very seriously. Two thing that I know are going to bother you, but you should know, is that research seems to show that girls are more prone to head injuries than boys and once an athlete gets a head injury they seem more prone to getting another.

 

CT is looking to pass a head injury (concussions) law this upcoming session. better testing for coaches on recognition and more stringent criteria for return to play

 

Glad to see you are taking her to a neurologist and they are taking it seriously.

From the sounds of it you are going to have the same issue I had with my son, he went head to head and lost, was down on the ground not moving for longer than I was happy with. This was varsity HS. He got up, looked a bit wobbly, but never came out due to fear of not getting back in again (coach was a bit "strange").

Diagnosed with concusion that night.

I will PROMISE you, that your daughter will swear she's fine and better well before the doctors clear her. STAND UP TO HER! Not saying you won't, but I've seen parents who want to be friends and not hurt the kids feelings. Nothing is worth brain damage which is what can happen if she goes back early.

Get her taken care of!

 

I'm a keeper as well and have had my share of concussions...but one really sticks out. Got kicked in the head going for a cross about chest high...dont remember anything besides diving out than waking up on the side of the field.

Took maybe 3 days off of school because of the pain and was in a fog for about another month. I remember screaming at my algebra II teacher, "Since when are there letters in math?!?!?"

 

I got a concussion skiing once, I was sick for a week. It wasn't fun, I wear a helmet now.

Saw a thing on TV about it with football players. The thing they stressed is that the player CANNOT play the sport or anything else that risks concussion until cleared by a doctor. If another concussion occurs it can be bad, real bad, even deadly.

 

Story just posted on espn.com today:
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=4877480

 

You guys need to really be careful here. She has a BAD concussion from the sound of it. I hope she feels better soon. Get her some headgear to wear for sure. If her symptoms last for much longer, she needs to take some real time off. Don't rush back into it. It is one thing for a pro athlete to need to get back onto the field and another for a teenage girl. Sports medicine doctors sometimes lose some perspective given the environment they are in. When she is cleared by that guy I would get a second opinion from a different neurological clinic before even thinking of letting her play.

From what I know, someone her age suffering the kind of post-concussion symptoms she has is in a very high-risk category for six months at least afterwards. Even when the effects totally diminish she will still be prone to brain trauma for some unknowable time. Better to play it safe. The longer she waits, the more likely she will be totally fine.

 

Someone in a coaching forum I frequent posted this link to a series of articles on concussions in the past day or so. Hope they are of value to you.

http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/20/when-its-more-than-a-headache/?hp

 

The first article references preseason neurocognitive testing. My kids high school did this (Ohio). It gives a baseline as an added metric above which (or, probably within a statistically relevant distance) an athlete must score to be cleared.

Of course, I asked my kids if it were possible to fail the preseason test?????

 

Keep us posted. It is interesting to learn from the experience of others.

 

I am sorry I did not post earlier on this topic, I must have missed the thread. I am making myself type a reply. Unfortunately, I -- like many on this thread -- have close experience with this since my son was hospitalized with a severe concussion a few years ago. He hit the back of his head on the ground at soccer practice. Interestingly, he did not lose consciousness. He was just a little woozy for 10-20 seconds. In fact, he completed the last 15 minutes of practice and looked pretty good with the ball. Fortunately, that part of practice was non-contact. His primary symptom was memory loss. Talking to him after practice, after his brain had a chance to swell, he could not remember the past work or so of his life. We went immediately to the emergency room and left the hospital 2 days later. I learned a lot more about head injuries than I ever wanted to know. This is an important topic, so someone correct me if you see any errors or misinformation in this post. I know you asked about recovery but there is a critically important issue we all need to be educated about, especially coaches and parents.

Second Impact Syndrome (SIS) “This occurs when an athlete, who has already sustained a head injury, sustains a second head injury before symptoms have cleared from the first injury.” http://tbi.unl.edu/savedTBI/sports/sis.html

What my son, your daughter, and some of others in this thread have done, which is return immediately to the play, is very dangerous. Statistics show that every month or so, a person, usually a teenager, dies from second impact syndrome (SIS). To me, the most frightening thing about sports related head injuries is: THE MORE SEVERE THE HEAD INJURY, THE LESS LIKELY THE PLAYER IS TO BE AWARE OF IT. If they hit their head hard enough, they do not feel any pain for a few hours perhaps half a day, and can’t immediately formulate the thought process to realize they are seriously injured. Frightening thought for coaches and parents; if their head hurts, it is probably not that bad. If it doesn’t hurt at all, it could be very serious. From what I have read, after a second impact to an injured brain, the cascade of brain failure is such that there is nothing that can be done to save the teenagers life unless they happen to already be inside the emergency room.

We remind ourselves all the time about properly anchoring soccer goals, but the numbers show us that 5 to 10 times more kids are killed by SIS every two years than fallen soccer goals. It is an amazing thing how well some of our players are trained in soccer. They can be on “autopilot” playing the game while having a head injury so severe they can’t add 2 plus 3.

So what to do when a kid gets his or her bell rung?

First, do not let the player return to practice or the game. They need to sit in the shade if it is hot or under a blanket if it is cold. Remember, in most cases a teenager does not lose consciousness after a head injury. Most specialists are now judging the severity of a concussion in kids by the amount of memory loss and not the number of seconds unconscious. I remember when I was coaching U13 at a tournament semi, and our center back had a head-to-head collision clearing a ball. He sat out the rest of the game while I was thinking, how soon can he return, we are getting killed in the middle out there we have a much better chance of winning with him out there. Now I know how foolish and potentially dangerous that type of thinking is.

Second, access their cognitive function immediately. Ask them what they had for lunch, what they did at school that day, count backwards from 10, and very importantly ask them what they will be doing at school the next day. The doctor will want to know if they experienced any disorientation after the injury in order access the severity. If they seem OK, they still need to stay out of practice, and be evaluated 10-15 minutes later to see if there is any change in their condition. If they look at you as my son did and say, I went to school today? You are going to the emergency room.

Thirdly, have someone, such as the trainer, or their parent keep them company while they sit out in the rare case their condition worsens.

And parents, if you suspect your child has suffered a concussion, make them sit in the back seat, preferably in the middle, to drive them home or the emergency room. It doesn’t matter if they are 200 pounds, the impact from an airbag could be deadly for someone already suffering from a concussion. I didn’t know this at the time.

As you mention further in the thread, some pediatricians are not up to speed on this. Your pediatrician missed it completely didn’t they? Fortunately, my son’s pediatrician was well educated on this. He is just a great pediatrician from a practice of great pediatricians! (Coached some soccer when he was younger also.)

Your question was about recovery. It is extremely frustrating, but the only known treatment for a severe concussion is rest. The body and the brain should not be stressed. I remember our pediatrician telling us that about one third of his patients with similar injuries (usually from car accidents) had to repeat the school grade they were in. The only known treatment is no exercise and no schoolwork until they improve enough that their constant headache goes away. Fortunately, my son’s school principal was well educated on this and supported his month-long exemption from homework and tests. One or two of his teachers were a problem, “he hasn’t finished his project, he hasn’t turned in his homework.” The principal had to remind them more than once what was going on, and one teacher never got it. The best guess right now is: the more complete the rest, the quicker the recovery.

It was pretty sad at this time. Unlike me, my son is the organized type, probably the only kid at his school who never forgot his ID/charge card. However, during that time, when we left for school each morning, I would have to put his ID around his neck in the car. If I didn’t put his backpack in his lap, and wrap his arms around it, he would walk out of the car without it.

It can be a long road back, 2 – 3 months if they play at a high level. After a month or two of absolutely no exercise, they will need a month of exercise just to return to the practice field. Then they will need to spend 4 – 6 weeks of practice before they are able to handle the uncontrolled environment of a game. I had a top level coach explain to me that practice is a controlled environment, games aren’t. So they may be able to practice long before they are able to return to the field for games if they play at a high level. During that time, you will see them do things that they have never done before, such as trip over their own teammate. My son’s coach at the time, which was several years ago, wanted to rush him back into playing before he was ready. He would say, at 80 percent he is better than his replacement. That was frustrating but I was probably the same way before I got “educated” on the subject.

Lastly, we like to think that soccer is somehow kinder and gentler than other sports. It may be that way at U6, but that changes very quickly. The best research shows that there is no statistical difference between the rate of head injuries in soccer, American football, ice hockey, and boxing. In fact, a recent study of division 1 players, show a higher history of concussions (39%) among soccer players than American football players (29%). Let me know if you want me to post the citations.

Some good news. My son got his bell rung during a head-to-head collision in practice. His coach made him stop practicing and be picked up from practice. He questioned him to access any immediate confusion or disorientation. The next day, the doctor determined he did not get another concussion. Smart coach, huh?

Hope this post isn't too long. ;-)

 

Cognitive impact test.

The Dallas-based CCSAI Classic League, through Presbyterian Sports Network, has been pushing hard for several year now to bring more attention to this issue by asking all players to take part in a cognitive impact test.

See IMPACT TEST

In a nutshell, the idea is to set cognitive baselines before any injury. The League has pushed hard to get players to make use of this tool. This is an important issue. A year or so ago the entire Dallas soccer community laughed , pretty much out-loud, at a HS coach who wanted to force his girls team team to wear head guards, which I realize aren't perfected, nor is the data clear to show how well head guards truly work.

But we always says "safety first." It's past time to ignore this issue.

See link above for details, but:

Classic League - ImPACT Test Instructions
Aug 19 2009 - Jeannie Bradford

Presbyterian
Sports Network
Texas Health Resources Classic League - ImPACT Test Instructions

• Test must be taken with a MOUSE, preferably on a desktop.
• Environment must be FREE FROM DISTRACTIONS (No TV, No CELL PHONES).
• You cannot pass or fail this test – its an individualized measurement.
• Testing time is about 45 minutes.

1) Go to the link: www.phscare.org/concussion

2) Click on “Boys Classic Soccer League” (link on the left in purple)

3) Click on the Classic League Logo

4) Click on “Launch Baseline Test”

5) Click on “English ”or “Spanish”(choose the language that is most
comfortable for you)

6) Read the instructions: “Before you begin…” then click “next”.

7) Read: “The ImPACT testing process is made up of three components…
”then click “next”

8) Click the circle next to “unsupervised”

9) In the “School/Organization” box click on the down arrow and select
“Boys Classic Soccer”

10) Fill in your date of birth

11) Continue filling in your information and begin the exam.

12) DIRECTIONS ARE LISTED AT THE BEGINNING OF EACH MODULE – READ CAREFULLY. INSTRUCTIONS WILL NOT BE TIMED, BUT THE TEST IS TIMED.

For questions or more information, please contact
Ken Locker at (214) 345-5010

 

from ctsoccers post

Re: Post Concussion Syndrome - anyone?
CT is looking to pass a head injury (concussions) law this upcoming session. better testing for coaches on recognition and more stringent criteria for return to play
__________________
Pain heals. Chicks dig scars. Glory... lasts forever.

Awesome legislative proposal. We all need to lobby our representatives to help pass forward head injury laws.

I'd hope doctors/neurologist do all the other methods of evaluation including this ImPact test before resorting to CT scans which use an allegedly high amount of radiation and have recently come under the spotlight as being potentially harmful.

Are their any consequences about padding goalpost ?