This week's links from MomsTeam, a website devoted to health and safety issues in youth sports:
- A concussion should not only take a student athlete off the playing field, but also likely will require a break from and a gradual return to the classroom, the American Academy of Pediatrics said in a new report. The study recommended that parents, health care professionals and school personnel work together with the goal of minimizing disruptions to the student's life and returning the student to school as soon as symptoms permit, along with making adjustments to the student's school program where necessary.
- Are men who played high school football in Minnesota in the decade after World War II at increased risk of later developing dementia, Parkinson's or ALS compared with non-football playing high school males? Not according to a recent study by researchers at the Mayo Clinic. Comparing the incidence of dementia, Parkinson's disease and ALS in 438 high school football players from Rochester, Minn., who played the sport from 1946 to 1956 and 140 non-football playing male classmates, researchers found that the football players were not at increased risk of later developing those neurodegenerative diseases.
- With all the recent media attention on head injuries in football and CTE, sometimes the record needs to be set straight. MomsTeam offered six recent concussion myths that need to be debunked.
- Platelet-rich-plasma (PRP) injections have emerged in recent years as a treatment for a variety of sports injuries, ranging from severe tendonitis to muscle tears. As with any new treatment, there are few studies reporting on the effectiveness of PRP, and even those that have been published are debated by experts, leading the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons to call it the "hottest topic in orthopedics." Two top sports medicine doctors debated the current state of the research on PRP.
- American athletics has become so all consuming that many parents have lost sight of the reality of youth sports. What started 100 years ago in the New York public school system has now morphed into big business, which is feeding unrealistic expectations for parents and kids alike, argued a longtime Minnesota hockey coach and on-ice official.
-- MomsTeam.com and NFL Evolution.com
