Oct 25, 2007 3:58 pm US/Eastern
Howard Co. Tests Student Athletes For Concussions
by Peggy Lee
HOWARD COUNTY, Md. (WJZ) ―
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Howard County Schools test athletes for concussions after games.
CBS
If your child plays a high school sport, you know they have taken a "hit or two" during a game. Your child may be suffering from a concussion right now and you may not know it.
Peggy Lee reports Howard County is doing something to help.
Playing in after-school sports is a popular pasttime for hundreds of students athletes, but it isn't always child's play.
According to researchers, head concussions are considered to be a hidden epidemic. As many as half of students' injuries go undetected, which could lead to serious problems.
"In the past a lot of concussions went unreported because students didn't want to tell the coach, they didn't want to be taken out of the game. The parents didn't want to tell because the kid says 'no, I want to play," said Mike Williams, athletic coordinator .
Mike Williams, athletic coordinator for Howard County Public Schools, says all 12 of their high schools now have a computer based testing program called "Impact." Impact helps detect concussions.
"It tests speed reaction time, it tests memory. It's not an IQ test, it's not anything like that. It's just a mechanism to show us how well the brain is thinking," said Williams.
Each school has 600 base-line tests to give to athletes at the beginning of the sports season. Then there are an additional 60 post-concussion tests, given to athletes after an injury. The results are compared.
"Let's say out of 50 words, they identified on the base-line, 45 of them. Then on the post test they identify 31. There's a significant difference there in recall," said Dr. Bill Howard, Union Memorial Hospital.
Dr. Howard says having this tool could potentially save a life.
The school district says students must have parental permission before they can be tested.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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