Princeton, WV (WOAY) Whether it’s NASCAR, baseball, hockey, or football, many sports require players to wear helmets—for good reasons.
However, even with proper gear, concussions are still possible for many athletes.
With football season now officially underway, local teams are doing what they can to protect their players against concussions.
A concussion involves a shaking of the brain, which padding alone cannot prevent.
It has been shown that helmets are great at protecting against skull fractures; however, there is little evidence that helmets actually protect wearers against concussions from heavy impacts.
Newswatch spoke with Erica Morgan, a physical therapist assistant at WVU Medicine Princeton Community Hospital, and athletic trainer for the Princeton High School Tigers to see what they are doing this season to protect players and how they handle concussions.
Morgan:
“Before the season starts, one thing that we do is a SCAT6 (Sports Concussion Assessment Tool), which is basically like a pre-screen just to kind of get their baseline. And that just goes over their cognitive, their memory, balance—all those things… and also during practice, they wear the Guardian Caps.
If it shows that, okay, they’ve had a concussion, then we do something called a five-step program where basically, we do like a step every day for five days. And as long as they’re symptom-free, then they can move on to the next step.
If it seems like they’re kind of regressing, then we have to step back. So typically it takes five days, but if they’re having a hard time, depending on the severity of the concussion, it can take a little longer. But again, it’s all based on their symptoms and how they’re presenting.”
