Expand education about concussions

We encourage children to pursue sports for all sorts of reasons, ranging from lofty competitive goals to health benefits and even simply for fun. But there are always risks associated with playing any sport. Among them are concussion-causing hard knocks that occur in all contacts sports, at all levels of play.

Twenty-five years ago, Hawaii enacted a law that launched a pilot program assigning at least one full-time certified athletic trainer to every interscholastic sports-playing public high school. Hawaii is the first state — and still the only state — to do so. We should be proud of that outlier status as it has helped schools across the state produce healthier student athletes as well as build a valuable collection of data pertaining to sports injuries — including the somewhat mysterious concussion, which can cause serious brain injury.

State lawmakers are weighing Senate Bill 2211, which would expand the scope of the state’s concussion educational program to include middle- and elementary- school students. That’s a good idea, given that emerging research is finding that young athletes are particularly vulnerable to long-term injury caused by head-rattling whacks because their brains are not fully developed, and are less capable of fully repairing themselves.

A set of recent stories by Honolulu Star-Advertiser sports reporter Dave Reardon spotlights dangers tied to concussions and Hawaii’s ongoing efforts to address prevention, injury and recovery. It’s encouraging that the tough-it-out ethos in which young athletes continue to train and compete while injured is fading away.

That’s due, in part, to an annual state requirement that every high school coach in every sport must attend a concussion clinic or view one online. Information about symptoms, such as as dizziness, sensitivity to light and memory loss, are relayed to student athletes. Despite strides in awareness as well as treatment of symptoms, though, there’s no set cure for a concussion — and no sure-bet way to diagnose one.

The National Football League is now grappling with reportedly hundreds of concussion-caused injury cases in which former players are suffering from symptoms consistent with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, which can lead to dementia and other cognitive disabilities that can be diagnosed only during an autopsy. Many of these players began their careers in youth tackle leagues in which children as young as age 8 are strapping on pads and helmets.

Some experts say helmets offer a false sense of protection, doing little to stop the brain from moving inside the skull as a result of a hard hit. What’s more, younger players have weaker neck muscles, and therefore are less capable of bracing for impact or even supporting the weight of a helmet.

For reasons such as these, the introduction of flex football is most welcome. Its developers — including Brandon Hardin, a former NFL player from Kahaluu — have put together a safety-minded game of touch football with soft-shell helmets (no face mask) and shoulder pads that can help foster proper tackle technique in younger athletes.

Tackle football deserves special attention in regards to concussion injuries because it tallies the most reports among our athletes in public high schools. The yearly average number of concussions reported by football teams, between 2010 and 2016, was nearly 340 — about four times higher than the runner-up count for girls soccer.

In Hawaii, thousands of kids participate in more than 20 different youth sports that have a sizable potential risk for sustaining a concussion from collision. Even non-contact sports such as gymnastics, track and volleyball contend with the injury.

As long as athletics play a steady role in everyday life in the islands, state leaders and sports staffs must continue to pursue efforts aimed at shielding young athletes from injury-related dangers while preserving the broader health goals.