With the start of the school year just around the corner, many families are beginning to focus on fall sports, with boys and girls of all ages taking to football and soccer fields. Despite increased awareness, precautions and protective equipment, concussions still happen. UMass Medical School sports medicine expert Brian Busconi, MD, is urging parents, coaches and trainers to be vigilant for signs of possible concussion.
“Concussions in young athletes have more detrimental effects than they do in mature adults,” said Dr. Busconi, associate professor of orthopedics & physical rehabilitation, family medicine & community health and pediatrics, and director of sports medicine at UMass Memorial Medical Center. “It’s important to recognize that if they’ve had a head event. That’s why we need to make everyone aware.”
In this Expert’s Corner video, Busconi talks about recommended precautions when concussion is suspected in young athletes, and applauds recent guidelines from the American Academy of Neurology on the evaluation and management of concussion in sports. And he is proud that the guidelines follow on the heels of the earlier Massachusetts law, passed in 2010, that set statewide standards for what do to when concussion is suspected in interscholastic sports.
