A head’s up

New focus on limiting concussions, brain injuries prompts tighter rules for school sports programs

September 01, 2011|By Kathleen Burge, Globe Staff

Hopkinton High football player J.R. Barnes, 16, takes a computer test to… (Essdras M Suarez/Globe…)

As football players returned to Hopkinton High School last month, practice included a new drill: taking a computer test to measure their brain function.

The test, which will provide a baseline measurement in case the athletes get concussions during the year, is becoming more popular in school sports as new state guidelines draw attention to possible complications from concussions. Their aim is to both prevent and manage concussions suffered by student athletes.

The new rules, developed by the state Department of Public Health under a law passed last year, require public middle and high schools and other members of the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association to train student athletes, their parents, coaches, and other school officials in how to recognize and treat concussions. Officials must document concussions that occur each season, and students who have been removed from play because of a head injury must receive medical clearance before they can return.

But an increasing number of area school districts are taking another step, investing in software that measures a student’s memory, reaction time, and attention span.

In Hopkinton, athletes are required to take the ImPACT computer test at the beginning of their season, so that the results can be compared with a test taken after a potential concussion. The findings will allow school officials and parents, with the help of an expert, make decisions about when the athlete can return to their game, and to school.

“We figured it was one more step, one more tool to be able to measure where the kids were coming from,’’ said Eric Karjel, Hopkinton’s athletic director.

Hopkinton had already started the training mandated in the new state guidelines. But school officials decided they could better manage students with concussions using the software program, and consultations from Brookline neuropsychologist Neal McGrath, founder of Sports Concussion New England.

McGrath estimates that at least 10 percent of high school football players get a concussion each year - and that’s a conservative estimate, he says. For sports like soccer, hockey, and basketball, the concussion rate is about 5 percent, he says. As a result, the average public high school, he says, probably has a few dozen students who get concussions each year.

But not all of those students will necessarily report - or even recognize - their symptoms, according to McGrath.

“We know, too, it’s been documented for a long time at all levels, athletes either don’t understand concussion symptoms and risk, or even if they understand them, they may not want to report them,’’ he said. “They may not want to let their team down, they may not want to miss playing time.’’