What do football, soccer and lacrosse players have in common? They’re the athletes most likely to suffer from concussions.
Concussion specialist Dr. Eric Sherburn will speak at a seminar about how concussions happen and how to recover from them. Sherburn said concussions are serious injuries, and student athletes must take themselves out of a game if they think they’ve suffered one but coaches or referees don’t recognize it.
"And, potentially even more importantly, if they recognize one of their teammates has symptoms, that they go to the coach or the athletic trainer or the referee and say, 'My teammate is not right, and they need to be taken out of the game,'" Sherburn said.
Athletes who lose consciousness, have amnesia or are confused must leave the game. Other possible signs of a concussion are nausea or vomiting, sensitivity to light, a headache, and loss of coordination.
Full recovery from a concussion is possible within two weeks, and that doesn’t mean two weeks of doing nothing. Sherburn said activities like running are OK if they don’t cause symptoms because they help ward off depression and anxiety.
"Anyone that has underlying depression or anxiety, their symptoms tend to last longer, but it can have direct implications from a concussion standpoint and it can make the recovery much more difficult," Sherburn said.
The best thing an athlete can do is not rush back to competition until they've completely recovered from a concussion. Not only are they at risk for second-impact syndrome — sudden brain swelling resulting from another concussion that can be fatal — but athletes who return without fully recovering from a concussion are also six times as likely to suffer an orthopedic injury, like a broken leg, ruptured Achilles or torn ACL.
"When you have a concussion, your reaction time is ... slower. And so, your body gets into positions that it normally wouldn't be in, and that's what puts you at risk for lower-extremity injury," Sherburn said.
Sherburn's seminar is Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. at Holland Hall's Walter Arts Center, 5666 E 81st St.
