Concussion Program Aimed at Increasing Safety for Student-Athletes

Testing Geared Toward Identifying Brain Injuries, Including Concussion

FORT LAUDERDALE-DAVIE, Fla. – National Football League stars Troy Aikman, Brett Favre and Steve Young. National Hockey League sensation Sidney Crosby. Brazilian soccer phenom Neymar. These are just a few of the professional athletes who have suffered serious concussions as a result of playing their sports.

Many people hear the word but they may not fully understand what a concussion can be. Imagine running into a wall head first, over and over again – thousands of times. That’s what it can be like for some athletes. And it’s not just professional athletes; many amateur athletes at the high school level or younger are suffering the same brain injuries as their professional counterparts.

“There are studies that show football players being exposed to close to 1,000 hits to the head during a typical year of training,” said Stephen Russo, assistant professor at Nova Southeastern University’s Center for Psychological Studies. “These can be small incidents, but the overall cumulative effect can be dramatic.”

Russo is also the director of sport psychology for NSU’s athletic department and the Sport Medicine Clinic within NSU’s College of Osteopathic Medicine. It’s in this role that Russo has become involved in a unique program with the School Board of Broward County, Florida that focuses on brain injury/concussions.

In 2009 a program was started at a few local high schools, in partnership with the Broward County Athletic Association (BCAA) and ImPACT Applications, Inc., where high school athletes were given an online test to establish a “baseline” cognitive function of their brains. This test, which takes about 20 minutes and is administered in their home high school, was designed to measure an athlete’s memory, visual-processing speed, and reaction time.

“What we wanted to create was a database of baseline test results that could be used as a comparison point if an athlete was injured,” Russo said. “At the moment, we have more than 30,000 baseline tests covering the athletes in Broward County, which is pretty impressive.”

The idea is when an athlete experiences a brain injury, including a concussion, there is a starting point for officials to use to determine how severe the injury is and when the athlete has fully recovered. Russo said that there are many forms of brain injury, and that while concussions are receiving the lion’s share of publicity, in fact, it’s the lesser traumatic injuries, or “sub-concussive hits” sustained over time, that can cause additional damage.

“We’re seeing research studies now documenting progressive brain injury in athletes who haven’t had their ‘bell rung’ per se, but have suffered repeated blows to their head over time,” Russo said. “Not only do we see this problem in sports like boxing and football, but you also see it in other sports, like rugby, wrestling, or soccer, where using your head is an integral part of the game.”

Russo said that the program implemented in Broward County could be replicated in other areas of the country where there is a strong partnership between the school district and local health care providers, and he hopes to see it spread.

This baseline testing program became mandatory for all high schools under the BCAA in 2012. The program has also been in place for all of NSU’s student athletes since 2008. The way the program works is based on established protocols.

First, an athlete takes the online test to create their baseline. Then if they are injured during practice or a game, athletic trainers at each school perform an “on field” assessment to determine the presence and severity of the brain injury. If the determination is made the athlete can no longer practice/play, they are removed from further action.

Under Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) rules, athletes who suffer a sport-related brain injury must see a physician prior to returning to practice or games. After that consultation and subsequently being “cleared” by their doctor, the athlete is encouraged to visit NSU or another site that utilizes the ImPACT test in order for their post-injury assessment to be compared with their baseline data. While the follow-up testing is vital, at this time it is not mandatory for clearance to return to action according to the State of Florida’s concussion statute.

“We strongly encourage the athlete to retake the test, but due to various circumstances, some of them cannot,” Russo said. “So when they are cleared by their doctor to return to play, those individuals are closely monitored by their athletic trainers and coaches.”

Russo said the follow up tests are done at NSU or other off-campus locations, and that can pose some challenges for many athletes who many not be able to travel to those locations. Like other such programs, additional funding is needed to expand its reach.

“It all comes down to staffing and funding,” Russo said. “We’d love to be in a position where we could work with the families and high schools in Broward County, as well as our county health partners, to make it easier for athletes to obtain post-injury evaluations. We’re not there yet, but hopefully we will be soon.”

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About Nova Southeastern University: Situated on 314 beautiful acres in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, Nova Southeastern University (NSU) is a dynamic research institution dedicated to providing high-quality educational programs at all levels.  NSU is an independent, not-for-profit institution with 26,000 students at campuses in Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Jacksonville, Miami, Orlando, Palm Beach and Tampa, Florida as well as San Juan, Puerto Rico. NSU awards associate’s, bachelor’s, master’s, specialist, doctoral and first-professional degrees in a wide range of fields. NSU is classified as a research university with “high research activity” by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, and it is one of only 37 universities nationwide to also be awarded Carnegie’s Community Engagement Classification. For more information, please visit www.nova.edu. Celebrating 50 years of academic excellence!