Players are conditioned to ignore pain and get back on the field to play through injuries and help their teams win.įor that reason, coaches are paramount to addressing the culture. Thus, we need to treat athletes as patients, not just players, when they show signs or symptoms of a concussion. We should call them what they are: severe brain injuries. As a university football player, I remember thinking that ‘concussion’ is not a strong enough word to describe what it is. The NFL is expected to implement changes to their protocols as early as Week 5 - this week.īut then there’s how the culture of the game looks at concussions. And that is followed by a locker room exam. ![]() Given the league’s history with the handling of brain injuries, there needs to be a further examination of the process and continued conversation around the culture.Īs part of the process, the sideline checklist of the concussion protocol currently consists of a player being ruled out by a team physician and neurotrauma consultant for displaying loss of consciousness (including impact seizure and/or fencing posture), gross motor instability (neurologically caused), confusion or amnesia. ![]() ![]() While it’s too late to change how Tagovailoa’s injury was handled, the NFL needs to understand why it happened so that the league can learn from it and avoid similar situations in future. fMf8qLOJWA- JC Tretter September 30, 2022
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