Head Injuries May Go Unreported Among High School Football Players

It’s one of the roughest sports out there – and one of the most popular among high school students: good old fashioned, rough and tumble football.

Some young players are so passionate about the game, they’ll try to play through the pain of a major injury.

Javi Alonso used to play football back in high school. Now a student at UTEP, he said many young athletes will downplay injuries to get more playing time.

“When you play football and you’re in high school, you never want to sit out. You don’t want to look weak. People lie all the time about their pain,” he said.

Alonso said he suffered a concussion on the field freshman year of high school in Harlingen, Texas. He said he convinced coaches he was fine to get back on the field even though he still hadn’t recovered from the concussion.

He said he’s seen other students downplay injuries also.

“If it hurts a lot, you’re gonna say it hurts a little bit,” he explained.

The UIL, which governs Texas high school sports, has improved concussion management and education since 2004, but troubling issues linger for Texas’ high school athletes, according to a recent report in the Dallas Morning News.

Some of the issues cited in the article include: ?Unlike guidelines recently adopted by leading concussion experts, the UIL leaves it open for an athlete to return to play on the same day if the athlete hasn’t lost consciousness and concussion symptoms are resolved within 15 minutes.

?Like its heat guidelines, the UIL concussion protocol is merely a set of recommendations and isn’t policed.

?Fifty-three percent of public schools in Texas and about 92 percent of private schools don’t have a full-time certified athletic trainer on staff. Additionally, 33 percent of public schools in Texas (mostly at the Class A and 2A levels) and 87 percent of private schools don’t even have weekly access to a certified athletic trainer.

?UIL athletes must fill out a medical history form each year before competing in athletic activities. The forms feature questions that don’t always deliver in determining concussion history. National experts say that about half of all concussions go unreported, and therefore undiagnosed and untreated. Read the full Dallas Morning News article here.

At the Socorro Independent School District, spokesman Daniel Escobar said it’s the athletic trainer– not the coach– who gets to make the final call.

“It’s very important. We don’t take this lightly at all,” said Marcie Strutz, athletic trainer at Socorro High School. She said she’s already seen four students suffer concussions while playing football just this year.

“We don’t let them go back in right away, usually it’s two to three days even if it’s a mild concussion,” she said.

Strutz said they will send a student to the hospital if they ever black out on the field, even if it’s just for a moment. She said they also alert parents and ask them to take their children to a doctor any time they’ve received a head injury.

Dr. Luis Urrea, a surgeon at the El Paso Orthopaedic Surgery Group and Center for Sports Medicine who works closely with UTEP athletes, said that’s the right gameplan.

“If you have a student athlete that comes out walking funny, doesn’t remember the last two plays, the score, doesn’t recall numbers… they should be pulled out of the game because the second concussion can cause major injury,” he said. “That can cause dysfunction later in life, so that’s why we have to be real careful with kids”.

It’s a warning that is not falling on deaf ears back at Socorro High, where they’ll often sideline football players despite the students’ wishes.

“Our job is to be the bad guy and say you can’t play tonight or tomorrow or the next day. We’re gonna take it, but we’re gonna make sure you’re OK. Football is not as important as your life,” said Strutz.

Related Link:Link:What Is A Concussion?Link:This Week’s High School Football Schedule; Watch ABC-7’s Previews, Predictions