South Florida Schools Focusing On Sports-Related Head Injuries
MIAMI (CBS4) - Sports-related concussions are on the rise nationwide, and some startling new numbers may have you re-thinking the decision to tell your injured child to "shake it off" and keep playing.
Concussions and other traumatic injuries seem to have reached epidemic proportions.
According to the Center for Injury Research at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Ohio, from 1990 through 2007, football related injuries rose twenty seven percent for children between the ages of six and seventeen.
Northcutt's son played in Texas two years ago, when this kind of awareness was not prevalent.
"I think about it a lot," says South Florida parent Ann Northcutt. "The good thing that has come out is awareness."
CBS4 sports anchor Kim Bokamper checked into the numbers in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties, he was surprised at what he found.
Both counties are proactive in their approach to head injuries at the high school. They are using cutting edge tactics to reduce lasting effects from a possibly traumatic injury.
They have a system called the Impact Program, which includes immediate post concussion assessment and cognative testing. The program is mandatory for all players in Miami-Dade County and is becoming more common in Broward County.
"I feel much more confident. How they are training and what they are doing," said Northcutt.
