FREEHOLD — It can happen without warning. One instant, an athlete is playing his hardest, and the next moment, an injury leaves him laying on the field and disoriented.
His vision becomes blurry, a sensation of nausea washes over him, and a pounding headache attacks his senses — just some of the signs of a possible concussion.
If left untreated, a concussion can cause lasting health issues or death — and con- cussions happen to thousands of Americans every year.
“It can be catastrophic if the proper decisions are not made, and it is really important for parents and coaches to be educated on the signs and symptoms of concussions,” said Dr. David Bertone, who operates ConcussionRXCare in Manalapan and Lincroft.
Bertone and Jersey Shore University Medical Center Sports Medicine Director Dr. Stephen G. Rice will discuss head injuries and their occurrence in youth sports at iPlay America, 110 Schanck Road, Freehold Township, on Aug. 13.
“A lot of the youth sports leagues are not really being serviced like the high school and college [sports] are, and [youth sports] is where a lot of the injuries are occurring,” Bertone said. “We have been trying to educate the community and youth sports organizations about concussions and how to implement some on-field assessments and baseline testing.”
More than 173,000 patients age 19 or younger are diagnosed and treated for concussions and other brain injuries each year, with most of the injuries coming from sports and recreational activities such as bicycling, football and playground activities, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
According to the CDC, a concussion is a “traumatic brain injury caused by a bump, blow, or jolt to the head” that happens when the head and brain move quickly back and forth. The injury “can change the way [the] brain normally works” and does not always result in the injured person losing consciousness.
“The education on concussions will have a positive impact on our club and our community as a whole because a lot of the athletes just don’t report concussion symptoms … because they just don’t know what those symptoms are,” Freehold Soccer League Training and Development Coordinator Dennis Mojares said. “I know for a fact that two boys in our league were out for six to eight weeks due to concussions.”
Bertone said he hopes that members of many local youth sports leagues will attend the Aug. 13 event in Freehold Township and learn information that could save lives.
“If you educate the coaches and parents, at least they are on board in early recognition … and they can make the proper call on the field to do the appropriate thing,” he said. “Quite often, [going to] the emergency room is not the appropriate thing to do.”
Bertone said attendees will learn how a concussion affects an individual, how to diagnose someone with a concussion and how a sports league can start a baseline concussion testing program.
Baseline testing is a process through which an individual undergoes balance, neural cognitive and ocular motor tests to determine what his capabilities are before any injury occurs.
That way, in the event of an injury, the individual can undergo the same tests and have the new data compared to the baseline results, determining whether he sustained a brain injury.
Such a test, Bertone said, can provide valuable information to a physician or a pediatrician during a critical time.
“Quite often, pediatricians do not really have any information to go on, so the baseline testing is the way to go — and that is what is done at the high school, college and professional levels,” he said.
Baseline testing for attendees will be available before, during and after the lecture at a reduced cost of $24.99 and will include unlimited post-head injury tests and reports to physicians for one year.
Bertone said the service is being offered as an inexpensive way for parents to ensure their children will be properly diagnosed and treated in the event that a scary situation on the playing field turns into an even scarier one off it.
“I think education is really the key, and getting some objective baseline testing will help the decision-making process in returning to sports eventually,” he said. “We don’t want to stop kids from playing sports; we just want to make sure they are ready to get back when they are.”
Additional information is available at dborthopt.com/concussion-management.