White light and black stars: that’s what I saw as my head, throbbing with pain, spun from the sudden impact of a wildly swung oar during crew practice. A few hours later, I was in Isham Health Center, diagnosed with a concussion. After an explanatory phone call to my family, they turned off the phone without a sense of the severity of the situation. In fact, they were more concerned with how I would be able to catch up with work after missing two weeks of school than they were with my actual injury. Following Isham’s inability to convey the gravity of a concussion I ended up blacking out after leaving their care. How bad can a concussion be, really? As it turns out, quite bad, and perhaps worse than even those who have had minor concussions can imagine. By definition, a concussion is a brain injury that causes temporary loss of brain function leading to cognitive, physical and emotional symptoms such as confusion, vomiting, headache, nausea, depression, disturbed sleep, moodiness and amnesia. Most people who are diagnosed with a concussion report a loss of symptoms within one to two weeks. A concussion can actually last much longer than that. Studies have shown that if not taken care of properly, there is abnormal brain wave activity for years after a concussion, as well as the partial wasting away of motor pathways, which can lead to significant attention problems. In fact, repeated concussions have led to symptoms similar to Parkinson’s disease, affectation of the same area of the brain that Alzheimer’s affects and premature aging of cognitive abilities. This premature cognitive decay has actually led over 4,000 former football players to sue the NFL on the grounds of not being properly informed about the cognitive risk of such a high-impact sport. As a serious athlete, I am definitely concerned about whether or not I am receiving the appropriate care to ensure that I do not develop these serious issues years down the road. I believe that more often than not, there is a failure to communicate the level of consequence that a concussion can have if not taken care of, especially if someone were to receive repeated head injuries. In the same way, I feel that athletes at Andover are not really aware of the risk that concussions present and need to be informed by coaches, trainers or nurses about what could happen if the appropriate treatment is not given. I believe that education about concussions is crucial, not just for students here but for their families and teachers as well. After a phone call with Isham about their child’s concussion, parents should be left concerned for their child’s well-being, not their GPA. Isham should be explicit about the possible long-term effects of a concussion and should perhaps even go as far as to have a student sit in for an information session about concussions. Lack of awareness about concussions’ severity could hurt not only student-athletes’ physical performance, but also their academic performance and daily cognizance as well. It is pivotal that the student body and all adults on campus are made aware of the potentially grave outcomes of a concussion.
