Argo Online

By Lacey Nemergut

Though many Prep athletes take the field equipped with proper pads, braces, wrapping, and tape, most are vulnerable to an injury with the greatest potential long term effect of all. Approximately nineteen percent of all athletes experience at least one concussion per season. As research on professional players under the watchful eye of their adoring fans begins to show startling effects of concussions, doctors are finding that such traumatic consequences are a result of a problem beginning in a player’s high school career. “Sixty Minutes” recently reported that in severe cases, analysis of deceased football player’s brains showed effects of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative brain disease which can cause dementia as it slowly eats away at brain cells completely undetected by physicians. Rutgers Prep has responded to these nationally considered statistics, requiring all athletes to take the impact test online so as to better protect its students from the long-term effects of repeated concussions.

It’s difficult for all athletes to perceive the risk that they face when playing contact sports. Most high school athletes spend time worrying about remembering key plays or checking the crowd for fans and pay no attention to the fact that they may be facing a life or death consequence. Other times, athletes may be worried about letting their team down or appearing weak if they sit out with a seemingly invisible injury.

Zachary Lystedt, a 13 year old football player, is the victim of such a tragic event that happened three years ago in 2006. After taking a serious hit on the field, Zachary was benched, showing signs of a concussion. Shortly after, his coach decided it was permissible to let him back in the game after a period of rest. After running a series of plays involving a seemingly insignificant tackle, Zachary began screaming to his dad on the side lines and grabbing his head in pain. In the next second, Zachary passed out on the floor, as his young brain experienced a series of strokes. Zachary Lystedt , after suffering permanent and severe brain damage, has become an icon for legislation currently circulating through congress called Zach’s Law. Under this provision, high school athletes who have sustained a head injury are required to get a doctor’s note before they are allowed back on the field.

Knowing that such tragedies as Zach’s are an all-too-real possibility, Rutgers Prep, along with 150 other schools in New Jersey, has demanded that its athletes take the Impact test prior to their season. “It wasn’t a requirement with the NJISAA. There’s so much media coverage concerning concussions…we wanted to be prepared and provide the necessary care for all our student athletes,” said Prep’s Athletic Director, Mary Klinger. The impact test (available at http://www.impacttest.com/) works by taking a baseline analysis of your cognitive ability over a 45-minute time span. The test utilizes basic shapes, culture neutral words, and patterns to measure an athlete’s typical response to such stimuli. Under a time constraint, it tests your short term memory and many aspects of it. Components of the test include recalling words and alignment of certain shapes. It incorporates a combination of sections covering a variety of abilities. It begins by flashing a series of words on the screen and asks you to commit them to memory. Then, it asks you to click numbers backwards from twenty. It then requires to click certain keys in response to colors and flashing numbers. Stretching your recall, it then demands that you remember the words previously flashed on the screen. Most students expressed that the baseline test itself was challenging even without a concussion.

If an athlete is suspected of having head trauma after sustaining a blow to the head- whether by another athlete, the ground, or sporting equipment- the original test results are then compared with the athlete’s post injury results. These tests have been proven necessary after considering the shocking results of a recent study. According to USA Today, 16% of football players who return to the game after sustaining a concussion lose consciousness shortly after. The website explains, “Athletes that are not fully recovered from an initial concussion are significantly vulnerable for recurrent, cumulative, and even catastrophic consequences of a second concussive injury…injuries can be prevented if an athlete is allowed time to recover.” In order to prevent this shocking and life threatening statistic, these tests are implemented to give athletic trainers, such as Mrs. Paterson, grounds to bench athletes.
Head trauma has proven to be one of the most dangerous athletic injuries because of its subtle nature. While CT, MRI, and EEG can detect most other injuries and damages, they are not useful in diagnosing concussions. Symptoms of a mild concussion include dizziness and nausea, while severe concussions may be indicated by a delayed loss of consciousness. Causes of a concussion include the principals of basic physics. Essentially, a concussion is caused by a rapid acceleration of the brain immediately hindered by the skull. In a collision, two objects sustain a certain amount of impact. Depending on the velocity and contact time of the collision, professional football players can sustain forces equivalent to those of a severe car accident.

In an atmosphere dominated by the pressure to succeed, it’s easy to lose sight of safety issue. It is in the hopes of many, including Zachary Lystedt’s parents, that by raising awareness to this serious issue, that other children might be saved. Though the impact test is available, it is useless if an athlete does not report the injury.