Safety

To provide maximum protection against head injuries, helmets worn by athletes in contact sports such as youth hockey and lacrosse, need to fit correctly, but a new study finds that fewer than four in ten youth hockey and lacrosse helmets are properly fitted.

Four years after the American Academy of Pediatrics adopted the recommended return-to-play (RTP) guidelines proposed by the Third International Conference on Concussion in Sport, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta (CHA) has proposed sport-specific guidelines for ten sports known to put young athletes at the highest risk for concussion.

In its ongoing attempt to minimize the risk of injury in the sport, the NFHS has stiffened the penalties for flagrant boarding and checking from behind in open ice for the 2014-2015 season. Both will now result in at least an automatic major, with the possibility of a game misconduct.

Concussions result in microscopic white matter and inflammatory changes to the brain, say three new studies published in the Journal of Neurosurgery. The studies add to a growing body of research suggesting that concussion can no longer be thought of as a transient injury resulting in a temporary disruption of brain function, but results in structural and electrophysiological changes which persist long after the injury occurs.

In her long road to recovery from post-concussion syndrome, two-time Olympic hockey star Caitlin Cahow had the best help a daughter could ask for, a mom who was there for her, no questions asked.  Caitlin's mom, a physician herself, shares with MomsTEAM's Brooke de Lench her perspective on new treatment therapies.

A growing number of studies challenge the conventional wisdom that inadequate athlete concussion knowledge is the principal barrier to increased concussion symptom reporting.  Because educating youth about the dangers of concussion is unlikely to improve concussion reporting, they say other ways need to be found to increase reporting, among them being to enlist coaches to help create an environment where athletes feel safe in reporting.