Football and soccer season for area athletes is here and health professionals are again sounding the alarm for coaches and parents to be aware of head injuries.
Devin Spears is the lead athletic trainer for Memorial Medical Center’s SportsCare.
“The people we are dealing with now, 14, 15, 16, 17 years olds that are playing football, if we are doing damage to this (the brain) now, we don’t now what the long-term affects are going to be,” Spears says. “It often will take 7 to 10 days for the brain to get back to pre-injury levels.”
Symptoms of a concussion may not be readily apparent but coaches are beginning to be trained on signs to look for with their athletes.
The Illinois High School Association is mandating certain steps that need to be taken if a player is injured