Issue link: http://latinschool.uberflip.com/i/937491
Feature B efore diving into practice on Tuesday, September 12, Latin athletes gathered around their coaches to listen and agree to a simple pledge: "We're a team, and we look out for each other. A teammate with a concussion needs your help. I expect you to speak up to a coach or athletic trainer if you think a teammate might have a concussion." This quick but meaningful exercise was part of Team Up Speak Up Day, an awareness campaign created by the Concussion Legacy Foundation (CLF) as a way of empowering 44 million youth athletes nationwide to be advocates and self-advocates related to head injuries. Beyond this, Latin is taking a proactive stance on concussions for all students – not just those on the playing field – with a new concussion policy introduced in September 2017. Latin's parents, teachers, coaches and nurses are leading the way for a deeper understanding of this this all-too-common injury, which can have an influence on learning and emotional health. The Science and Effects Concussions are often misunderstood because they present themselves in a number of ways, and treating them can vary widely based on symptoms. However, the science behind a concussion is simple. According to the Concussion Legacy Foundation (CLF), a concussion is a serious injury to the brain resulting from the rapid acceleration or deceleration of brain tissue within the skull. is rapid movement causes brain tissue to change shape, which can stretch and damage brain cells, called axons. is physical injury causes chemical and metabolic changes to the brain cells, making it more dicult for cells to function and communicate. Brain cells become sluggish and cannot create the energy needed to function properly – as if the brain were running on very low batteries. e U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 3.8 million concussions occur every year as a result of youth sports- and recreation-related activities, but only 5 to 10 percent of these are diagnosed correctly. Concussions can cause all sorts of eects including physical conditions such as headaches; vision problems like seeing double, blurriness and light sensitivity; emotional problems like depression or anxiety; digestive issues; sleep disturbances; and cognitive issues like problems with attention, memory and executive functioning, such as planning or organizing. What is considered a concussion has expanded in recent years, according to Chris Nowinski, co-founder and CEO of CLF. "It used to be you had to get knocked out," he said at a faculty presentation at Latin in the fall. "We are now at a point where we recognize that the symptoms can be much less severe. e threshold for concussions has dropped signicantly." Nowinski said that historically, the medical community was ineective at diagnosing concussions. Part of this is due to the fact that concussions don't cause pain because there are no pain receptors in the brain. e other factor is that a patient doesn't always look injured. "e symptoms can uctuate day to day and sometimes even hour by hour," he said. Latin Leads: New Concussion Policy Grows Awareness 20