Although fatal injuries on the football field are extremely rare, they do happen. Recently, a teenager in Phoenix, Arizona died after taking a helmet to helmet hit during his football game. His autopsy reported that he suffered a massive subdural hematoma, or bleeding on the brain due to the hit.
Unfortunately, football players are taught not to be “wimps” from an early age and to get up after they are hit even if they are hurt. But it’s a rough game that can cause life threatening injuries even if you don’t know it.
Wouldn’t it be nice to have a football helmet that monitors the activity in the brain when a player gets hit? Riddell may be on to something like that.
This new “smart football helmet” uses a technology known as the Head Impact Telemetry System (HITS). It uses sensors that can monitor and determine what part of the brain is affected and length of impact and transmit the data real-time to the side lines. This technology may end up saving the next teenager’s life.
Without a doubt, kids and adults should always wear protective head gear when playing in contact sports, as well as riding a bicycle or motorcycle.
If you or someone you love has suffered a serious Traumatic Brain Injury as the result of an accident in Kansas or Missouri, you may be entitled to compensation. Don’t delay, contact our experienced Kansas City Personal Injury Attorneys today. We want you to know your rights.
As spectators we love both sports because they are aggressive and often violent sports. It’s the same reason the Romans watched the Gladiators. You love seeing a QB get his bell rung or a wing take a cross-check against the glass. Unfortunately, the reality is that these hits that bring fans to their feet are often resulting in long term and sometimes terminal illnesses for players who suffer from concussions and traumatic brain injury.
Johnson believes the NHL and NFL could use some of the same technology spearheading that drove NASCAR after the death of legendary race car driver Dale Earnhardt ten years ago. The pro racing league worked to design walls that lessen impact on vehicles as well as car safety and helmet techniques to prevent serious injury when an accident cannot be avoided.
Contact Kansas City Accident Injury Attorneys to set up a free consultation if you or a loved one has suffered a serious head injury in an accident that happened in Kansas or Missouri. Our team of Personal Injury and Brain Injury Lawyers have over 15 years of experience dealing with head injury cases. We want you to know your rights.
The Institute of Medicine has released a new report about progress that has been made in treating Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBIs) using Cognitive Rehabilitation Therapy (CRT). Committee Chair Ira Shoulson (professor of neurology, pharmacology, and human science, and director of the program from regulatory science and medicine, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, D.C.) said, “This report lays out a research agenda to surmount the short comings and challenges that have thus far limited our understanding of the full effectiveness of various forms of cognitive rehabilitation therapy in helping patients with different severity and stages of TBI.”
About 10 million people suffer from Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) worldwide. From 2000 to 2010, the number of US military personnel suffering from TBI has almost tripled from 11,000 to 30,000. The wars in Iraqand Afghanistanhave been adding to the number of TBIs through roadside bombings and insurgent attacks.
Most TBIs are minor, however, whether minor or severe, recovery can take months or even years. Even then, complete recovery is not likely, especially in severe cases. The U.S. Department of Defense sponsored the CRT study to find out how effective Cognitive Rehabilitation Therapy (CRT) in the treatment of TBI is, so that they can properly decide how available the treatments should be and how to implement them in the military health care system.
People living with TBIs have a long road ahead of them because rehabilitation and reintegration into everyday life is a long-term challenge. TBI patients need effective health care infrastructure, evidence-based treatment and rehabilitation policies to cope with and care for their impairments.
There are different forms of CRT that vary according to the issues the patient is suffering from and the techniques used to treat those issues. Because of this there is a problem with assessing the effectiveness of the treatments. Even though it is clear that CRT is successful, Researchers cannot empirically classify the results. Their goals are to improve the way the data is collected and standardize a set of terms that practitioners treating TBI patience to use to describe the therapy used and the outcome.
Symptoms you should watch for if you think that you or a loved one might be suffering from a TBI are; headache, nausea, vomiting, loss of consciousness (even for very short periods of time), sensitivity to light and/or noise, balancing problems or dizziness, double or blurred vision, confusion, inattentiveness, memory issues, and pressure in the head.
If you or a loved one is suffering from any of these symptoms, you should immediately seek professional medical attention. If you do so, are suffering from a TBI and you need a trusted legal adviser, Kansas City Accident Injury Attorneys may be able to help. Call 816-471-5111 for no cost or obligation to you or “Just Ask“.
A recent report released by the CDC says that there has been about a 60% increase, over the past decade, in the number of concussions and other Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI) amongst young athletes. According to this report, there were around 153,375 TBIs in 2001 among young people from infants to the age of 19. By 2009, the number rose to 248,418. A lot of the injuries happened to football players, children in playgrounds, and bicyclers.
Julie Gilchrist, study researcher and pediatrician with the CDC’s Division of Unintentional Injury Prevention in the NationalCenterfor Injury Prevention and Control in Atlanta, said, “I believe this is, at least, in part due to increased awareness. We are hoping that awareness has gotten up to the point that parents, teachers, and coaches recognize the signs and symptoms of concussion and make sure that children are evaluated.”, but the precise reason for the rise in TBIs is unknown.
Dr. Linda C. Degutis, director of the CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, says that they believe that a reason for the increase in ER visits is because people are more aware of the need for professional healthcare for those with TBI symptoms. Knowing the symptoms and immediately getting the affect person professional health care attention is important. Many states, Kansas and Missouri among them, require that parents and coaches get concussion education.
TBI Symptoms:
Headache
Sensitivity to light or noise
Nausea
Vomiting
Balance issues
Dizziness
Double or blurred vision
Loss of consciousness (even brief)
Confusion
Memory problems
Pressure in the head
Inattentiveness
Et cetera
Another reason concussions and other TBIs may be becoming more common is because young athletes are bigger and play more aggressively than they used to. They hit harder and use their helmets as weapons.
The report suggests that there are some differences when it comes to a child’s age and gender in injury rates. Around 71% of ER visits for sport and recreation associated injuries were in boys. Out of these, 70.5% of these visits were boys between the ages of 10 and 19. Infants to children of 9 years are more likely to have head injuries while riding bikes or playing on the playground.
Dr. Robert Cantu, co-director of Boston University’s Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy, is writing a book about concussions among youth. He does not think that youth under 14 years of age should play collision sports until safety issues are better addressed. “They should not play collision sports as they are currently played,” Cantu said. “Listen, I love sports. I’m not trying to get rid of sports. I’m trying to get rid of head trauma in sports particularly at the youth level.”
There are ways to help prevent TBIs. Football players and bicyclers should always wear well fitting helmets. To build strength and skills that can help prevent injury do conditioning exercises. Always follow the rules of the game being played because this alone can reduce the likelihood of injury.
After a concussion has been confirmed, students shouldn’t go back to school or do homework. They should stay in a dimly lit and quiet room where they can rest for a few days after receiving the injury.
If you or a loved one has suffered from a concussion or TBI and have questions about your rights, the Kansas City Accident Injury Attorneys may be able to help. Call 888-348-2616 for information and look at the Brain or Spinal Cord Injury practice area for more information.
James M. Roswold is licensed to practice law in the state of Missouri only. Heather A. Lottmann and Victor B. Finkelstein are licensed to practice law in the state of Missouri and the state of Kansas.
