Concussions are no joking matter at DePauw University. Four years after the National Collegiate Athletic Association mandated that all member schools put a concussion-management plan in place, DePauw believes it’s ahead of the curve.
“I think that were out ahead on our concussion education and I think we do a good job with our coaches,” Rex Call, director of Sports Medicine and Associate Professor of Kinesiology, said.
DePauw’s implementation of a concussion-management plan puts them in the 92.7 percent of universities and colleges that have such a plan according to a study done by Harvard University.
DePauw’s concussion management plan consists of two major parts: education and management.
The education component starts before student-athletes arrive on campus. Before participating in a sport, all athletes are required to fill out a pre-participation form that requires them to read a fact-sheet on concussions in sports.
Athletes are also asked to disclose prior injuries, including concussions, and to sign an agreement stating they will “accept the responsibility for reporting my injuries and illnesses to the DePauw Sports Medicine Staff, including signs and symptoms of concussion.”
This agreement is “an important part of our concussion-management plan,” said Call.
Student-athletes are not the only ones educated on concussions before the season. Coaches also are taught about the injury on an annual basis.
“We have sports medicine education for coaches at our kickoff August athletic department meeting,” said Call.
It is at this meeting where coaches are taught the signs and symptoms of concussions so they can recognize a concussed player.
Players and coaches of “high-risk” sports also get additional education at pre-season meetings where a NCAA video on concussions is shown. Teams who receive this extra information and are considered to be at high-risk include football, men’s lacrosse, men and women’s soccer, field hockey, baseball, volleyball and softball.
The goal of this education is to grant athletes and coaches the ability to recognize potential concussions.
“A team approach is important,” said Call. “We want teammates to be on the look out for signs and symptoms.”
This education paid off for sophomore swimmer Emily Ward, who sustained a concussion after falling. Her teammates recognized concussion like symptoms and pushed her to receive medical care.
The management portion of DePauw’s concussion plan also starts early in the year. High-risk athletes are required to take the imPACT test (Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing) before participating. If an athlete may have sustained a concussion, he or she will take the test again so the results can be compared.
“The whole freshman class goes in at the same time to one of the computer labs to take the test,” sophomore softball player Julia Waggoner said. “They’ll flash something like 20 words on the screen, then go test you on something else and then and then ask you to recall as many words as you can.”
"You have to get your baseline measured when you're not concussed through things like a balance test,” sophomore soccer player Michael McGrath said.
If an athlete receives a hard hit or blow to the head and shows possible symptoms of a concussion, he or she is sent to be evaluated by a member of the sports medicine staff. If the staff member believes an athlete has sustained a concussion, the athlete is temporarily banned from all athletic activity. After this decision is made, the athlete is told to rest and is monitored on a daily basis.
“We use a form that lists all the symptoms of a concussion,” Call said. “It actually allows us to create an athlete’s score off of the number of symptoms and severity of those symptoms.”
Once an athlete is symptom-free, he or she retakes both the imPACT and balance tests. The results of these tests are compared to the baseline data taken before the concussion by a member of the sports medicine team. If the results are similar, the athlete is still not cleared but begins a five-day physical progression.
Said Call of the sequence, “As you progress through the five days, the intensity of exercise increases and the amount of contact you’re allowed to do increases on the fourth day and fifth day.”
If symptoms reoccur during the five-day period, athletes wait 24 hours before restarting on the previous step of the pgoression. The final stage involves school physician Dr. Scott Ripple who “has the final authority in making the decision on an athlete’s return to play,” Call said.
DePauw’s concussion management program is on par with similar schools such as North Coast Athletic Conference rival Denison University. Denison’s plan which is posted on their athletic website outlines five steps all of which correlate to DePauw’s program.
DePauw athletes, and their heads, are in good hands with DePauw’s current concussion management program.