Brain Injury Awareness Month Is Being Commemorated in Overland Park on March 24th | Sports Concussions

The Brain Injury Association of Kansas City and Greater Kansas City commemorates  Brain Injury Awareness Month later this month in Overland Park, Kansas. On March 24th,  SPORTS CONCUSSIONS will be discussed by a panel of experts, will include local broadcaster Mitch Holthus, the "Voice of the Kansas City Chiefs," who will emcee the event. Panelists will include Brian McRae, Kansas City Royals center fielder from 1990-1994, who has suffered several concussion in his career. Dr. Jamie Pardini, neuropsychologist and colleague of Mark Lovell, M.D., the creator of ImPACT, an Immediate Post-concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing, will also be on the panel. David Dyck, M.D., a Kansas City sports medicine physician who provides medical coverage for USA Volleyball, will be on the panel as well. The talk show format discussion costs $10, which includes a reception and the expert panel discussion immediately thereafter., The time is  6-8 pm. More information is available by contacting the Brain Injury Association of Kansas and Greater Kansas City at 913-754-8883.

We applaud BIAK for bringing the issue of sports concussions into the spotlight. People do not seem to understand that sports concussions, and any concussion, are serious injuries. Recently allegations made against Texas Tech football coach, Mike Leach regarding his treatment of player Adam James, following James suffering a concussion in practice, if true, are a troubling indication that coaches are still having a hard time accepting that concussions are serious injuries. A concussion results from a blow to the head causing an alteration in brain function, including a change of mental status and level of consciousness. Head injuries have the very real potential to result in serious consequences.

A common consequences of a mild traumatic brain injury is postconcussion syndrome. Symptoms of postconcussion syndrome include dizziness, headache, faulty memory, irritability, impaired concentration, and lack of energy. They may be present immediately or can even show up weeks later. A young person returning to play too soon is risks postconcussion syndrome. If he receives a second concussion before symptoms from the first have healed, he may risk a condition called second impact syndrome where the brain swells catastrophically, even following a mild trauma, with potentially debilitating or fatal results. 

Coaches, parents and others in authority need to get with it and understand that there is really nothing “minor” about concussions. Roswold Law Group looks forward to further information on this subject and an enlightenment for the general public concerning the serious nature of sports injuries arising out of the BIAK sports concussion panel on March 24th.