Temple University professor talks sports concussions

One only needs to look at the growing body of literature on concussions in sports to see the magnitude of the issue in the United States.

Books like Concussion Crisis, Head Game and Throwaway Players are all examples of what Temple professor of Kinesiology Michael Sachs called a “collision between the culture of athletics and the emerging, increasingly dangerous effects of head injuries.”

Sachs gave a lecture in Silverman Hall Thursday night to medical students, professors of neurology, doctors and neuropsychologists regarding the psychosocial ramifications of being an athlete and the growing public health issue surrounding concussions.

“Given the choice, a football player would rather get a concussion than sustain a torn ACL,” Sachs said.

Sachs added that the main issue is the lack of awareness about concussion, especially in younger athletes who are more vulnerable to protracting a head injury. Although 85 to 90 percent of concussions are mild, according to Sachs, some can be life threatening.

Chelsea Switzer, a bioethics graduate student who plays hockey, said she could relate to the lecture, having sustained a concussion herself.

“These are all things athletes need to know,” Switzer said. “These things can happen to you and it’s important to get this issue off the ground.”

There is so much pressure, Sachs said, that are both self-imposed and imposed by others, on athletes that they are often left with no choice but to play with a concussion.

Sachs said that the public needs to “seize this issue and see what we can do to advance knowledge and practice.”

“It’s important to facilitate this kind of dialogue, explore a lot of the pressures that athletes are subjected to and how that relates to concussion management,” said Max Shmidheiser, also a biothetics graduate student.

Sachs made clear that the idea in American sports is, “unless you’re injured so severely that you can’t perform you’re expected to be out there.”

In weighing what’s better for them holistically and medically, Joshua Levine, an assistant professor of Neurology at Penn, said that athletes often believe, “brain injury might be the better option.”

According to Sachs, athletes want to maintain their athletic identity while also upholding the sports ethic ­— the idea that one is dedicated to the game above all other things.

American culture needs to change in order to, “make it acceptable to take the time needed to recover,” Sachs said.

Passage of legislation such as the Lystedt Law — which created restrictions for student-athletes in Washington State with concussions — in conjunction with the integration of concussion programs, such as Protecting Athletes through Concussion Education, has aided in increasing awareness, Sachs said. Even video games such as Madden NFL 12 have included a concussion program that sidelines players if they sustain head injuries during the game. This increase of information, according to Sachs, aims to help maintain the well being of the athlete and prevent players from dismissing concussions as mere “dings.”

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