Head Games

Concussions used to be brushed off as simply “getting your bell rung,” a very normal event occurring frequently in high school sports. Today, we know that “getting your bell rung” can have serious and long-term health consequences. For many Minnesotans, it seems high school sports are more important than the human brain. As a result, athletes are not reporting their concussions, leading to costly and potentially serious health outcomes.

In the Twin Cities alone, the most recent data shows that there were more than 3,000 reported concussions during the 2014-2015 school year.

However, this does not account for the number of unreported concussions. It is estimated that Minnesota youth athletes report only one in 27 concussions, making the actual number of concussions incurred by those youth closer to 78,000. This number doesn’t even take into account the number of concussions occurring among all Minnesota high school athletes. Contributing to the problem are inadequate and improper use of equipment, delayed access to — or lack of — treatment, and a gap in education and awareness among coaches, parents and athletes.

The array of adverse health issues includes short- and long-term symptoms of headaches, slurred speech, fuzzy or blurry vision, dizziness, loss of memory, difficulty concentrating, sensitivity to light and noise, balance problems, and depression. All of these have consequences not just for individual health and quality of life, but for our health care system. The financial burden of untreated concussions may not be felt for years but is nevertheless significant. Fortunately, concussions are easy and inexpensive to treat if properly addressed in a timely manner.

Minnesota may be seeing a rise in unreported concussions among high school athletes for several reasons. First, the athlete who sustains a concussion typically does not want to admit it and risk not being able to play for a few weeks. Social norms and pressure on high school athletes to perform well — not only for themselves but also for their teammates, coaches, and parents — make it difficult for them to self-report, which in turn makes diagnosing and treating concussions difficult. Further, concussions are costly to individuals and the health care system. Financial opportunities such as scholarships can be lost when, e.g., removing athletes who have sustained concussions from the game could reduce their chances of being seen by colleges offering scholarships. Finally, there is a financial incentive for coaches, because when their team and players do well, the team and the coaches make more money.

With all the factors hindering an athlete’s willingness to report a concussion, it is no wonder that only an estimated 3.7 percent of concussions are being reported.

However, there is already one option to help with concussion underreporting: concussion spotters. The Minnesota State High School League could hire concussion spotters to watch all high school games; if they suspect an individual has a concussion, the spotters would be able to pull them out of the game. This would help address the social and economic factors that prevent reporting a concussion, improve the underreporting of concussions, and prevent the adverse health outcomes of unreported, untreated concussions.

We live in a state where high school sports are very important for parents, athletes, and coaches. However, times are changing, and we can no longer just “shake it off” when we “get our bell rung” — because ignoring concussions among youth athletics could cost our youth long and healthy lives.

Cloquet graduate Emily Acers is a graduate student at the University of Minnesota in the Public Health Administration Program and shared this column with the Pine Knot News.