Concussions a Growing Concern for Young Athletes

In high school, football accounts for two out of every three sports-related concussions. Some athletes continue to play out in the field, even after enduring multiple injuries or experiencing symptoms of a subtle concussion.

A concussion is an injury to the brain that happens when there's an impact to the skull or a quick movement or jolt to the head. But sometimes symptoms of an injury are often overlooked, putting an athlete at danger for possible rapid swelling in the brain and, at times, death.

In this 2012 segment of "SoCal Connected," reporter John Ridley explores the dangers of higher level impacts in sports, and what some schools are doing to protect young athletes from sustaining life-altering and dangerous injuries.

In a recent study looking at football injuries of athletes ages 6-17 during an 18-year period, researchers found a 27 percent increase from 274,094 in 1990 to nearly 346,772 in 2007. But pinpointing exact concussion statistics are harder to tackle, because so many concussions go undetected, as Ridley reports.

To crack down on sports safety, Wisconsin in 2009 was the first state to pass the Zackery Lystedt Law, which mandates that an athlete must be removed from a game if suspected to sustain a concussion. The law also requires written consent and evaluation from a medical profession before allowing a player to return to play.

Most recently, California joined various other states in signing into law a new concussion safety law that would require a school district to remove an athlete from a game if a player is suspected of sustaining an injury or concussion.

Featuring Interviews With:

• Nick Nordstrom, football player
• Dr. Tracy Zaslow, Concussion Program, Children's Hospital
• Kodiak Brush, football player
• Payton Banks
• Chuck Petersen, coach, Orange Lutheran High School