AAN: Any athlete suspected of having concussion should be removed from play
2010-11-02
(Press-News.org) ST. PAUL, Minn. – The American Academy of Neurology (AAN) is calling for any athlete who is suspected of having a concussion to be removed from play until the athlete is evaluated by a physician with training in the evaluation and management of sports concussion.
The request is one of five recommendations from a new position statement approved by the AAN's Board of Directors that targets policymakers with authority over determining the policy procedures for when an athlete suffers from concussion while participating in a sporting activity.
"While the majority of concussions are self-limited injuries, catastrophic results can occur and we do not yet know the long-term effects of multiple concussions," said Jeffrey Kutcher, MD, MPH, chair of the AAN's Sports Neurology Section, which drafted the position statement. "We owe it to athletes to advocate for policy measures that promote high quality, safe care for those participating in contact sports."
Members of the AAN specialize in treating disorders of the brain and nervous system. Some AAN members have extensive experience caring for athletes and are best qualified to develop and disseminate guidelines for managing athletes with sports concussion.
According to the new AAN position statement, no athlete should be allowed to participate in sports if he or she is still experiencing symptoms from a concussion, and a neurologist or physician with proper training should be consulted prior to clearing the athlete for return to participation.
In addition, the AAN recommends a certified athletic trainer be present at all sporting events, including practices, where athletes are at risk for concussion. Education efforts should also be maximized to improving the understanding of sports concussion by all athletes, parents and coaches. "We need to make sure coaches, trainers, and even parents, are properly educated on this issue, and that the right steps have been taken before an athlete returns to the field," said Kutcher, who is also director of the University of Michigan's Neurosport program.
In 1997, the AAN published a guideline on the management of sports concussion that defines concussion grade levels and provides recommendations. The guideline is currently being updated.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, sports-related concussions occur in the United States three million times per year, and among people ages 15 to 24 are now second only to motor vehicle accidents as a leading cause of traumatic brain injury.
INFORMATION:
The American Academy of Neurology, an association of more than 22,000 neurologists and neuroscience professionals, is dedicated to promoting the highest quality patient-centered neurologic care. A neurologist is a doctor with specialized training in diagnosing, treating and managing disorders of the brain and nervous system such as traumatic brain injury, stroke, Alzheimer's disease, epilepsy, Parkinson's disease, and multiple sclerosis.
For more information about the American Academy of Neurology, visit http://www.aan.com.
END
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
2010-11-02
SALT LAKE CITY—University of Utah (U of U) medical researchers have uncovered a wiring diagram that shows how the brain pays attention to visual, cognitive, sensory, and motor cues. The research provides a critical foundation for the study of abnormalities in attention that can be seen in many brain disorders such as autism, schizophrenia, and attention deficit disorder. The study appears Nov. 1, 2010, online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
"This study is the first of its kind to show how the brain switches attention from one feature to ...
2010-11-02
In many areas of the world, including California's Mojave Desert, rain is a precious and rare resource. To encourage rainfall, scientists use "cloud seeding," a weather modification process designed to increase precipitation amounts by dispersing chemicals into the clouds.
But research now reveals that the common practice of cloud seeding with materials such as silver iodide and frozen carbon dioxide may not be as effective as it had been hoped. In the most comprehensive reassessment of the effects of cloud seeding over the past fifty years, new findings from Prof. Pinhas ...
2010-11-02
STANFORD, Calif. — A newly approved drug may be a cost-effective way to prevent stroke in patients with an irregular heart rhythm — and may also offer patients better health outcomes than the commonly prescribed, but potentially risky, blood thinner warfarin. That's according to a new analysis from researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine and the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System.
"Dabigatran is the first new drug in 20 years to be approved for stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation, and we wanted to see if it could be cost-effective even ...
2010-11-02
STANFORD, Calif. — An approach that attempted to prevent childhood obesity in African-American girls produced beneficial changes in cholesterol, diabetes risk and depressive symptoms but had little effect on youths' weight, in a trial conducted by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital.
Although researchers had hoped to see a change in body mass index across the entire study population from the program — culturally-tailored dance classes and screen time reduction for African-American girls in low-income neighborhoods ...
2010-11-02
Most depressed teens who receive treatment appear to recover, but the condition recurs in almost half of adolescent patients and even more often among females, according to a report posted online today that will appear in the March 2011 print issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Major depressive disorder affects approximately 5.9 percent of teen females and 4.6 percent of teen males, according to background information in the article. "It is associated with functional impairment, risk of suicide and risk of adult depression," the ...
2010-11-02
An Australian study suggests that children who are sexually abused, especially if it involves penetration, appear to be at higher risk for developing schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders, according to a report in the November issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Previous studies have established that abused children are more likely to develop depression, anxiety, substance abuse, borderline personality disorders, posttraumatic stress disorder and suicidal behavior, according to background information in the article. "The possibility ...
2010-11-02
Veterans diagnosed with any psychiatric illness appear to have an elevated risk of suicide, and men with bipolar disorder and women with substance abuse disorders may have a particularly high risk, according to a report in the November issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
An estimated 90 percent to 98 percent of individuals who die from suicide meet criteria for at least one psychiatric disorder, according to background information in the article. "Prior research has consistently found associations between psychiatric conditions ...
2010-11-02
High-calorie beverages not allowed by national guidelines are still available in a majority of U.S. elementary schools, according to a report posted online today that will appear in the March 2011 print issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
"The U.S. Department of Agriculture National School Lunch Program has a broad reach, serving meals to more than 31 million students in 2008," the authors write as background information in the article. However, "different regulations address meals and competitive foods," such as those ...
2010-11-02
Male worms plug females after copulation as a form of 'gift', rather than to prevent them from mating again, as had previously been thought. Researchers writing in BioMed Central's open access journal Frontiers in Zoology found that plugged females mated just as often and were just as attractive as those who were unplugged, and that plugging ultimately improved female fitness.
Nadine Timmermeyer worked with a team of researchers from the University of Tuebingen, Germany, to investigate the effects of copulatory plugs in the nematode worm Caenorhabditis remanei. She said, ...
2010-11-02
People who are physically fit and active have fewer and milder colds, indicates research published online in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
The US researchers base their findings on 1,000 adults up to the age of 85 whose respiratory health was tracked for 12 weeks during the autumn and winter of 2008.
Six out of 10 participants were women, and four out of 10 were aged between 18 and 39; 40% were middle aged, and one in four were aged 60 and older.
All the participants reported back on how frequently they took aerobic exercise and rated their fitness levels ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
[Press-News.org] AAN: Any athlete suspected of having concussion should be removed from play
