IMMEDIATE ACTION NEEDED!!
We need help getting our Youth Sports Concussion Legislation" through the Iowa Senate Education Committee.
WE NEED YOUR ACTION TODAY! JUST SEND AN EMAIL~ addresses provided below
1. Give your name and connection to brain injury and concussions....a family member, a survivor, a nurse, a doctor, etc. If the Senator represents you, be sure to indicate where you live and that you are his/her constituent.
2. Urge him/her to vote YES for the bill and move it to the full Senate
3. Tell him/her the major components of the bill.
a. Give information on concussion to all student athletes and their parents at the beginning of a sports season;
b. Identify student athletes who suffer a concussion in games or practice and remove them from play immediately,
c. Not allow the student athlete to return to play until evaluated by a licensed health professional and given written clearance to play.
4. Remind Senators that...
a. A concussion is caused by a blow or motion to the head that causes the brain to move rapidly inside the skull, resulting in neurobiological dysfunction.
b. Concussions can occur without loss of consciousness.
c. The real danger is not with the first concussion but with the successive concussions that often result because of the altered state of the brain from repeated blows.
Time is of the essence with this effort - So we have to ACT NOW. Write to your own Senator if on this list. If none are yours, write to them anyway!
Here are the senators on the Senate Education Committee:
herman.quirmbach@legis.state.ia.us Boone, Story
brian.schoenjahn@legis.state.ia.us Black Hawk , Buchanan, Clayton, Delaware,
Fayette
Shawn.hamerlinck@legis.state.ia.us Clinton, Scott
daryl.beall@legis.state.ia.us Calhoun, Greene, Webster
nancy.boettger@legis.state.ia.us Adair, Audabon, Cass, Guthrie, Shelby
Pottawattamie
tod.bowman@legis.state.ia.us Clinton, Dubuque, Jackson
robert.dvorsky@legis.state.ia.us Linn, Johnson
randy.feenstra@legis.state.ia.us Lyon, Plymouth, Sioux
rob.hogg@legis.state.ia.us Linn
david.johnson@legis.state.ia.us Clay, Dickinson, O'Brien, Osceola, Sioux
roby.smith@legis.state.ia.us Scott
steve.sodders@legis.state.ia.us Franklin, Hardin, Marshall
mary.jo.wilhelm@legis.state.ia.us Allamakee, Chickasaw, Howard, Winneshiek
Iowa Senate File 153, the "Youth Sports Concussion Bill" YES vote on SF 153: Youth Sports Concussion billAs the mother of the Iowa Running back Adam Robinson - I am asking that you vote yes on SF153.I am not asking you to take away the love of the sports or to keep athletes from playing - but to help protect all athletes- There must be mandatory guidelines and medical testing and comprehensive monitoring to provide parents and athletes with the most accurate medical information to make the best informed decision. We can not wait until the athlete reaches the professional level.
Here is our story:Second Chance for AROB
Brett Walderbach’s Feb 8, 2011 letter “Second Chances OK, but there is a limit” ran in the Des Moines Register. Mr.Walderbach attempted to outline Adam Robinson’s “multiple chances to prove his commitment to his coach and his teammates, and summarized that he didn’t value those chances”. Mr. Walderbach presented his opinion as though he had inside information and was privy to the sequence of events that unfolded during the 2010 football season. I did not see Mr. Walderbach along that journey. Two concussions in three weeks. Little did I know as I relied upon the team staff for their expertise, the danger that my son was in. The standard medical clearance test was not based upon scientific evidence. I did not understand then what I do now. What was taking place behind the Game Day scenes that would lead to suspension for academic indigestion and then again for the Insight Bowl?
The average college football player will sustain a breathtaking 950 to 1,110 sub concussive blows per season – hits that are enough to do cumulative damage to brain tissue, but not enough to cause immediate symptoms. This is what is called a “dose response”, or in other words after a certain number of hits, the damage starts to show.
Studies have been conducted to determine the force of the hit by placing accelerometers in the helmets of player’s. The unit of measure used was the “g-force”. The liftoff of the Saturn V moon rocket exposed its crew to a maximum of four g’s. A roller coaster can exceed 6 g’s. College football players collide with each other with an impact of nearly 23 g’s – which is the average hit.
It’s not necessary to be hit in the head to have concussive damage. When the head snaps back and forth, the brain sloshes with it – hitting the skull. Part of the dilemma is that a player whose brain has been jolted on a sub concussive level is more likely to stay on the field and return there week after week. When the brain is shaken too hard, nerve fibers are torn and a protein called tau is released. The brain does try to clean up the mess and if given enough time it could. If there is no recuperation time and the hits keep coming, the protein accumulates and becomes like a sludge in the brain. This condition is known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). CTE is often seen among dementia patients and NFL players with a lifetime of concussions behind them. The tau protein and nerve fibers are impossible to see without a postmortem exam.
40% of players who experience a concussion are back on the field before their brains have fully healed. Sometimes two mild injuries can do more damage than one severe one. Players who return to the field before they have fully recovered may even suffer what is known as Second Impact Syndrome (SIS). In this case, another blow to the head leads to fatal brain bleed.
Individuals who suffer head trauma will be fine if they don’t do anything. But the moment they try to do something like read a book they will get a headache. Functioning neuro-imaging experiments show that more of the brain is used to accomplish easy tasks in the days after a concussion. Like an ankle sprain, the best cure is rest. Mental exertion – like the daily grind- can prolong the symptoms of a concussion.
A concussion is the invisible injury that affects the memory and neurological function of the brain. The brain is more than a joint or a limb. It is the seat of the self. The cognitive functioning is the sum of all thinking, planning, and problem solving within the brain. Brain injury has the potential to alter cognitive skills such that these “automatic” processes no longer work as efficiently as they once did.
Adam was awesome on the field as he spun, juked and struggled for a second and third effort, dragging defenders with him – doing what he loves most. As the accumulation of the hits and the concussions took control of his body and mind, effecting his academics, his problem solving skills, his performance on the field, his ability to cope with the demands on his time, and his health – he began to flounder. The second chance that Adam really needed was professional guidance anddirection. He was told he was fine – his brain was healed - but he wasn’t. He didn’t understand what was going on – why some symptoms continued when he should have been back to a pre-concussed state.
The first thing we need to do is become smarter about the damage from the cumulative hits and the concussions. Understanding the danger also means learning to recognize the post-injury symptoms. Had there been a collective effort in several different areas to monitor him medically, academically, and psychologically, they would have been able to determine that Adam needed help not because he didn’t value his team - not because he didn’t value his chances - but because he was suffering mentally.
Sally Robinson
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