Sports-Related Concussions & Subconcussive Injuries

On June 9, 2011, Alabama governor Robert Bentley signed the state's youth sports concussion safety bill into law.  Alabama joined a growing group of states that passed such laws since May 2009, when Washington State's groundbreaking Zackery Lystedt Law was enacted.

On July 13, 2011, Missouri governor Jay Nixon signed into law H.B. 300, 334, and 387, titled the "Interscholastic Youth Sports Brain Injury Prevention Act."   Missouri is the twenty-fifth state to enact strong youth sports concussion safety legislation since the Washington State's groundbreaking Zackery Lystedt Law was enacted in May 2009.

Multiple concussions in high school athletes impair sustained attention and cognitive flexibility for a long period of time after the injury.  Youth athletes who have sustained two or more previous concussions but who do not report or demonstrate any physical, medical, or cognitive difficulties related to a history of concussion report significantly lower academic GPAs, and more concussion-related symptoms.

The best way to develop a plan to address the academic accommodations a student-athlete will likely need as he or she recovers from a concussion is for your child's school to consult with a neuropsychologist, says MomsTeam expert sports concussion neuropsychologist, Rosemarie Scolaro Moser, Ph. D.

Scores on a test commonly used to assess concussions on the sport sideline vary by an athlete's gender and concussion history, reports a new study.  Establishing an individual baseline for each youth athlete in contact and collision sports is therefore critical to proper management of a subsequent concussion and the timing for safe return to play.

A computerized neuropsychological test commonly used to evaluate sports-related concussions misclassified up to 29 percent of healthy participants in a recent test by a University of Texas at Arlington kinesiology researcher.

The National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment (NOCSAE) has awarded $1.1 million in research grants to advance the science of sports medicine - specifically related to concussion.

On June 16, 2011, North Carolina governor Bev Perdue signed the Gfeller-Waller Concussion Awareness Act, adding the state to the list of twenty-three states that have enacted strong youth sports concussion safety laws since the first such law was passed in May 2009.

The Vermont law, signed by Governor Pete Shumlin, on May 31, 2011, includes only two of the three components considered essential (inform and educate coaches, youth athletes and their parents/guardians about the nature and risk of concussions and require them to sign a concussion information form; and require a youth athlete to be cleared by a licensed health care professional trained in the evaluation and management of concussions before returning to play or practice) and not the third (requiring the immediate removal of athletes from games or practices if they are suspected to have suffered a concussion), it is considered a "weak" youth sports concussion safety law.

On April 14, 2011, Nebraska governor Dave Heineman signed the state's youth sports concussion safety bill  (L.B. 260) into law.  The Concussion Awareness Act will take effect July 11, 2012.