Wisconsin Legislature Considering New Guidelines For Head Injuries Bill

A bipartisan bill in the state Legislature would create new guidelines for head injuries and rules for how young athletes who are injured must be handled. We support the bill and urge passage.

The legislation would require guidelines for coaches, athletes and their parents on the risk of concussion and head injury. It would require athletes suspected of having such injuries to be removed from an activity immediately and would block their return until they had been cleared by a health care provider with expertise in such injuries. The athlete would need written permission.

Many coaches, perhaps most, already follow this sound advice. But reinforcing the importance of proper procedure is a sensible idea. The risk of head trauma grows as more kids play football, soccer, rugby and other contact sports. The guidelines would apply to both public and private school activities as well as club teams, which often play at a highly competitive level.

“We need the help this law would provide in terms of making a stronger statement about the importance of education and the significance of head trauma,” Dave Anderson, executive director of the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association, said Tuesday during a hearing before the Assembly Education Committee.

Pamela Blair, who also testified, explained tearfully how a head injury she suffered while playing hockey in 2003 changed her life forever, the Journal Sentinel’s Don Walker reported.

Blair believes she suffered many concussions over the course of a long athletic career and now has permanent damage. “We all need to recognize that concussions exempt no one. It’s far better to sit out for three or four games than it is to sit out a lifetime,” she said.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Jason Fields (D-Milwaukee) and Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills), would cover organized athletic activities for youths between the ages of 11 and 19. It has the broad endorsement of medical associations around the state.

A suggestion from Conrad Andringa, a Madison pediatrician, would strengthen the legislation. He favors lowering the age covered by the bill to 6 because young brains are more susceptible to serious injury. Fields is open to such a change.

Thousands of kids play organized sports each year in Wisconsin. Most never suffer as Pamela Blair did. But some do. A 2007 report by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that nearly 135,000 youths nationwide required a visit to a hospital emergency room for a traumatic brain injury from 2001 to 2005 (an updated CDC report is expected this week). For the growing number of youth who suffer head injuries, clear rules are needed to ensure their safety when they return to the field.