Texas team studying concussions in local student-athletes

By Patrick Walker/McClatchy Newspapers

ARLINGTON, Texas - Mason Pritcher hit the ground hard, his helmet banging into the turf. The sophomore at Pantego Christian Academy had just leapt into the air to snatch the football during a game Oct. 14, only to have a tackler take out his legs from below.

As he rose unsteadily to his feet, he knew that something was wrong.

“I didn't feel right,” Pritcher said. “I didn't feel right at all.”

In a different time and place, the tall, lanky teen might have been expected to shake off the fog and go back to the huddle. But that era has passed. From peewee to the pros, the U.S. sports culture has become hardheaded about concussions.

Getting your bell rung means facing the music - or at least the medical staff - and not sneaking back onto the field when the coach isn't looking.

In Pritcher's case, the athletic trainer took his helmet. He wouldn't see game action again for three weeks, and then only with the blessing of Dr. Damond Blueitt, a Fort Worth, Texas, sports medicine specialist who is part of a team at the University of Texas at Arlington that is studying concussions in area student-athletes.

This weekend, Blueitt and the other team members - Jacob Resch, an assistant professor of kinesiology at the University of Texas-Arlington, and Dr. C. Munro Cullum, director of neuropsychology at the University of Texas-Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas - shared the latest findings at a concussion summit at the University of Texas-Arlington.

They were joined by other leading researchers from across the nation at an event meant to further educate doctors, coaches, athletic trainers and parents on the best protocols for ensuring that young athletes don't play again too soon.

In their study, which began in January 2011, they conduct base-line cognitive, neuropsychological and balance tests for every middle and high school athlete at Pantego Christian and in the DeSoto school district - about 2,200 in all. After a concussion, the athletes are retested, and researchers compare the results, then advise the caregivers on when it is safe for the student to return to the field.

The study will follow the student-athletes through high school; if they enroll at the University of Texas-Arlington, they will continue to be followed, Resch said. The study, which will allow researchers to compare recovery times by demographics, sport, position and other factors, is believed to be the first of its kind in the nation.

“That data doesn't exist right now,” said Resch, the lead investigator.

U.S. emergency rooms treat an estimated 135,000 sports-related traumatic brain injuries, including concussions, in children and teens each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2010, the University Interscholastic League tightened its guidelines so athletes who have suffered concussions are barred from play for 24 hours and must have a medical professional's clearance.

Protocol changes in the National Football League have received widespread media coverage.

Jay Pritcher, headmaster at Pantego Christian and Mason's father, said the school was happy to participate in the University of Texas-Arlington study as another way to protect its athletes.

But its importance hit home when his son was injured.

In the following days, Mason Pritcher had headaches and trouble focusing at school. He also had short-term-memory problems, sometimes asking the same question repeatedly, Jay Pritcher said.

“It was scary,” he said. “Being in the study gave us lots of comfort. Dr. Resch has a way of taking complex information and breaking it down to the level of you and me.”

Resch said other school districts are welcome to contact him about the study.

Eventually, researchers hope to better understand who is susceptible to more concussions and what the cumulative effects are. Maybe one day, a guy like Roger Staubach won't have to retire early.

“We know that some athletes are more sensitive, but we don't know who they are, and we don't know why,” said Cullum, who conducts base-line tests for the Dallas Cowboys and Dallas Stars and studies aging, concussions and dementia in retired NFL players.

Blueitt, a physician at Texas Health Ben Hogan Sports Medicine in Fort Worth, specializes in treating concussions in young athletes.

“The best option is to avoid a concussion in the first place,” he said.

“But we know that kids are going to get them, that athletes are going to get them, that everyday people are going to get them. So we want to make sure we know how first of all to help them survive, then recover as quickly as possible, and then not have any long-term consequences.”