LINCOLN, Maine — Morgan Russell thinks she has suffered two concussions, but she’s not sure.
The first came earlier in her high school career when the 18-year-old Lincoln senior was dribbling upcourt during a Mattanawcook Academy girls basketball game. An opposing player accidentally head-butted Russell when she went for the ball, Russell said.
“It was just right on the temple — really impacted it,” Russell said Thursday, “and then I had headaches for a couple of days. I still practiced. I didn’t think anything of it.”
Then, during another game, Russell started losing her vision. Alarmed, her coach immediately benched her until the headaches went away and her eyesight returned to normal, she said.
“It was really scary. I had never suffered a concussion before. I wasn’t really sure what to do,” Russell said.
The next concussion might have come when Russell was playing softball. Her helmet flew off during a slide into a base. Something — the ball, a knee? — hit her. Seeing signs of concussion, her coaches took her out of the game.
“I wasn’t really sure. It happened really fast,” Russell said.
The next time Russell gets hit in the head, she, her coaches and family won’t have any doubt whether the three-sport athlete has a concussion. Nor will she play in a game or practice until tests show that her brain has completely recovered from the trauma, said Rick Meyers, the academy’s athletic director and assistant principal.
The Lincoln high school has partnered with Penobscot Valley Hospital of Lincoln and enrolled in the Maine Concussion Management Initiative, a program created by Dr. William Heinz, a Portland orthopedist, and Dr. Paul Berkner, director of health services at Colby College in Waterville.
Over the last month, about 160 student-athletes at Mattanawcook Academy have taken ImPACT — Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing — a computerized neurocognitive testing program that has become a standard tool used in comprehensive clinical management of concussions for athletes of all ages. The entire school population might be next, Meyers said.
The test acts as a baseline measurement of memory and reaction time. If a student suffers a head injury, the results of the initial test will be compared to follow-up exams to measure the extent of brain-function loss caused by the injury. The tests also will measure how much brain function is recovered, said Dr. Carl Alessi, a family physician at Penobscot Valley Hospital who helps oversee the program.
When the post-injury test results match the baseline exam’s, the student will be allowed to resume athletics. The program represents a dramatic change in how brain injuries are regarded, Alessi said.
“In the past, when you had a head injury, it was, ‘Do you know where you are? OK, go back into the game,’” Alessi said. “You had your bell rung, you were a little bit groggy, but if you knew where you were, you’d go back in to play, often times with some very serious consequences. A lot of times, these head injuries are not recognized as such.
“Yeah, when someone gets knocked out, that’s easy, but the kid who gets a little bit dazed because he gets his bell rung may walk straight, he may talk OK, but he may not be able to do his calculus problems that day,” he added. “He may not be able to read Shakespeare, he may not be able to run his down-and-out pattern like he should. He may not be able to protect himself from being hit again, and that’s the danger.”
The discovery in recent years of the high incidence of long-term head injuries suffered by National Football League players — with the injuries’ ill effects surfacing sometimes decades after players ended their careers — helped spur the creation of the concussion-management program.
A study published in a recent issue of the medical journal Neurology surveyed nearly 3,500 retired NFL players who were in the league between 1959 and 1988 and found that the players are three times more likely to have neurodegenerative conditions, such as Alzheimer’s disease, than the general population. The study found four times the risk of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
According to the study, the average age of the 334 pro footballers who had died was 57. Seven had died from Alzheimer’s and another seven from ALS. Three players had died with Parkinson’s disease, but that number was not significantly higher than the general population.
The study also found that 62 percent of the players surveyed who had evinced signs of late-stage fallout from brain injuries were in speed positions — quarterback, running back, linebacker — compared to positions on the offensive and defensive lines. This indicated that high-speed collisions caused the most damage.
But brain injuries can occur with most any athletic activity, at any level, Alessi said.
“It’s not just football. It’s all sports,” he said. “You see head injuries in soccer, field hockey, lacrosse, volleyball, wrestling, even cross country [ and cheerleading]. People fall. People whack their heads when they fall. Golf, skiing … there are lots of sports where people get their head injured. Often [severe head injuries] are not discovered because they are not high-velocity injuries.”
As part of the concussion management program, Meyers said, parents will be notified of a head injury suffered by their children during athletics and will be encouraged to take them to doctors. Meyers pressed for the school’s involvement in the program this fall after recently becoming MA’s athletic director and discovering that his predecessor had begun to implement it.
Meyers said the school is probably a latecomer to the program, which was created about five years ago. A new state law signed by Gov. Paul LePage in May requires all high schools to adopt and implement policies on management of concussive and other head injuries in school sports, practices and other activities over the next year.
The policies require all schools to remove from practices and games any student suspected of having suffered a head injury until there is written clearance from a licensed neurologist or athletic trainer stating that the student is free of symptoms of a head injury. The policy acknowledges the potential to cause more harm if athletes with head injuries aren’t benched immediately. Maine joined at least 30 states in creating anti-concussion laws.
According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, emergency room visits by children and adolescents for concussions increased by 60 percent in the past decade. Each year, emergency departments treat more than 173,000 sports- and recreation-related traumatic brain injuries.
Russell said she is glad her school is participating in the program. Though her injuries occurred years ago, she still suffers, she said, from headaches and has some slight short-term memory difficulties.
“It’s a constant, being afraid of being hit in the head again and not being able to play sports anymore because of suffering from too many concussions,” Russell said. “I don’t really think anybody my age really understands the seriousness of them, or how damaging it can be if you don’t take special care of it. … We are not really informed about them a lot.”
They spend their lives wearing helmets and pads now. No wonder they can’t take a hit anymore.
Keep playing those great sports
“Morgan Russell thinks she has suffered two concussions, but she’s not sure.”
… because I can’t remember much about it ?
I feel sorry for morgan but her parents and her decided to play the sports sometime when you play with fire you get burned
Basketball players wear neither but I doubt you took time to read the article.
And I doubt your reasoning ability, but we digress.
I was pointing out that our children start at a very early age these days being swaddled in belts and helmets and bubble wrap and sterile playgrounds etc…
We then wonder why they don’t seem to be as hardy as were when we lived with none of these protections. The way we coddle them now may also be the reason we need to put warning lables on their hair dryers saying “do not use in the shower”.
Get real. Care to look into how many preventable injuries were incurred before belts and helmets? As for your last (failed) attempts at analogy, that would be more likely for kids of unthinking families ignoring saftey practices and common sense.
More likely they are just doing what they have seen their, protected until they bred, stupid parents do.
You probably know something about how genetics works. What happens when you continue to breed stupid with stupid? For 40 or so years now we have been creating laws to protect stupid people. They are now entering their 3rd generation of breeding.
What will we have to warn them not to do in another 30?
It has nothing to do with hardiness. I played sports in the days when we “got our bell rung” and nothing was done about it because nothing showed up physically. We know so much more about what brain injuries do to a still growing brain.
Anyone with your attitude needs to be as far away from children and their sports in order to portect those student-atheletes.
If you get your way the only sports left will include, popping bubbles in the opponents protective bubble wrap suit, as a disqualifying penalty.
You just have no clue which tells me that you stood on the sidelines wishing that you could play sports but your mommy probably didn’t let you.
I love sports and I continued to play them until my knees could not take any more. I was lucky that I did not get my concussion playing sports at a young age but onstead got one while working in a mill.
Our kids, and their brains, are the future of this country and while we should let them play as much as possible we should also make that play as safe as possible.
Brain injuries do, however, expalin a lot of Republican stances.
Very heartless and uninformed.
Also very realistic.
You don’t seem to like reality and common sense much.
See my other reply. Common sense (and good safety practices) seem to be lacking elsewhere.
I am trying to understand your point of view. Are you saying the helmets and pads are making kids less resilient to brain injuries? In your later post you talked about kids these days being “swaddled in belts and helmets and bubble wrap and sterile playgrounds etc…” in your opinion, is this the cause of the increased incidence of head injury?
Not a matter of less resilient, way too early for any sort of sci-fi like genetic bone changes, but stdies have shown that our children are less able to fight off infections and some part of that that has been blamed on our sterile baby’s lives. What if all of the helmets and pads our children grow up wearing make them less cautious about doing damage to their bodies when they are jnot wearing them? Not something they can control but more of a natural loss of protective instinct.
Please explain to me how we stop an accidental headbutt playing basketball? Are we going to play basketball wearing helmets?
Tell ya what I really find amusing. WE cheer for and celebrate concussions in MMA and yet we are on the brink of TOUCH Pro-football. I think the pros should have the best healthcare in the world for the rest of their lives but they are paid handsomely and know the downside.
I know this article is about H.S. but the culture comes from pro-sports. You don’t want to play? Don’t play. You don’t want your kids to play? Don’t let your kids play.
I saw a report a few days ago Pros saying that although there is technology that can indicate every single hit and it’s severity the players are hesitant to use that technology because it can be used against them come time for contract talks. If the players don’t want it then they have stated that they want the money and are willing to take the risk.
“WE cheer for and celebrate concussions in MMA”
… for some not particularly broad values of “WE”, anyway.
“WE” as in society. Have ya watched MMA?? Have you noticed how popular it has become? have you noticed the huge ratings it gets when on FOX or FX? Perhaps YOU as an individual don’t cheer but there are MILLIONS that do.
My ‘point was. Concussions are LITERALLY part of the sport. No one seems to be addressing this . Nor do they seem interested in addressing it.
What’s to address? Nothing that “concussions are literally part of” is a sport. If “we” are giving a business like that huge ratings and profits, “we” are a bunch of bloodthirsty maroons who deserve to be circling the economic drain. Imperial Rome with frickin’ cable TV. Depressing.
MY original point “BENNY” was that the idea that we are so fixated on Concussions in pro football is in complete contrast with the idea that winning a match in MMA commonly entails giving the opponent a concussion and is in fact the OBJECTIVE .Are you able to grasp that. My point is that there is a certain amount of IRONY involved. You need a dictionary? AThesaurus?
By the way. I agree we are circling the economic drain and I see no reprieve in sight.
I’m not sure how pointing out that there are those of us who think both activities are unsuitable for a civilized people constituted a reason for you to get all combative, there, Greg, but hey, whatever makes you happy.
Oh… so my opinion is just one person? You’ve essentially stated you don’t like football either. You are aware of course that millions upon millions watch football every Saturday and Sunday. I’m addressing the realities. I’m trying to point our what is actually occurring in our society.
You can go get your Trophy for “participation” in synchronized swimming.
OK, now you’re not even making sense. Head injury, maybe?
Oh My stars Ben!!!
I just watched a kid with only one arm win his eighth bout without a loss. Knocked the other guy out (retired military) in the first round. SURREAL…
Now come on, that’s inspirational.
All kidding aside. I’m just saying that our society has become quite immune to OTHER PEOPLE”S pain. We look for the big hit. ESPN Shows the highlights.
Not a right or wrong. Just the way it is. Actually, it probably is kinda wrong.
So, your excuse is “everybody is doing it” and “how popular” it seems to be. So what. Heartless I suppose but not of our concern how they choose to abuse themselves. School sports are or should be our concern.
AMEN AMEN
You don’t get it do you. Any injuries you care to tell us about?
Noo… YOU don’t get it. There is a constant double standard applied. Many athletes will indeed play a concussion down because they want to PLAY THE GAME whether it be Pro, college, or High school. I am certainly in full agreement that we should do everything possible to minimize the damage to our youth. The problem is, THEY EMULATE their idols. And their idols are saying, “No i’m fine” because their careers depend on their ability to stay in the game. Not to mention anyone who has ever played sports knows that we all want to stay in. Even though I want you pulled I really don’t want you on my team if you just fold anytime you get hit. People that have played team sports understand this. Those that haven’t DON”T
Some idols. Feet (and heads) 0f clay.
Maybe you cheer for concussions (and worse) in MMA but this distorted view and MMA in general has no bearing on these issues.
Of course it does. MMA is the fastest growing sport in the world. How many teen athletes do you think watch it? How many of them want to emulate the toughness they see? Don’t be blind to the obvious. I’m not advocating for anything. I’m just telling you want is going on in the world. MMA is not some obscure event that no one follows anymore. It’s very MAINSTREAM.
You can watch something for entertainment and not idolize it (or them). If any teen wants to try it when an adult, their choice, their funeral.
You’re deflecting for the subject at hand. Pro football is finally doing more about concussions than many scholastic and youth sports groups. We should do better at all ages.
“Schools tackle”. Heh. I see what you did there.
I hope you are getting CATscans & MRIs along the way to monitor for change..so scary..need time off/on the bench for a bit too..helmets do have new air pumped features to cushion those blows…and hopefully decrease brain damage.
Some people commenting miss the point. It is true that some injuries cannot be prevented no matter what safety equipment is worn. However, it is not just the concussion but how sports teams and schools deal with them. Preventing the second one is paramount. Our school district implemented the Impact testing last year and because of that our daughter’s concussion was discovered and treated. If her injury had happened the year before she would have continued to play by hiding the symptoms. The testing was the difference. Despite a trip to the emergency room for stitches we had no idea how serious her injury was. The schools protocol for concussions helped her to deal with the concussion and to have the time to heal before trying to continue with schoolwork. Without this protocol the pressures of homework, tests and grades would have been overwhelming. Yes, student athletes and their parents know the risks of sports but when something happens it should be dealt with correctly. The testing along with the protocol for schools is key to making sure that these injuries are not made worse by ignoring them.
Kids need to wear helments for all sports… No really, what is the school doing allowing someone with multiple head injurys play sports.. I’m sure if you bring it up to their insurance company they would have something to say about it.
Great article! Loved the relevant statistics you put in about the chronic fatal illnesses that have unknown idiotpathies. You definitely did your homework. I’m so glad that people are doing this now in Maine and trying to lead the way in raising awareness. And Im glad for writers like you who help to educate the public.
Would love to have a conversation with Morgan…My daughter Mindy suffered a sports related concussion and has taken a very tough journey, right now she is in an outpatient program at New England Rehab in Portland. This is her story:
My name is Mindy Morneault. I am 25 years old and I live in Northern Maine. On September 12, 2010 , I recieved a concussion, that like some of these girls ended my soccer career and changed my life ENTIRELY. I was a goalie and grew up playing goalie. My first set of cleats came hand in hand with a pair of goalie gloves. All decisons i made in life, were based around soccer. I went to …college to play soccer. Mysummers and falls were filled with training, tournaments, pasta parties, games.With winter came a little break and then spring training, indoor, indoortourneys. Im sure you get the point. Anyways I had transferred back home andfigured i’d play soccer for the University of Maine at Fort Kent. My senior year we had travelled to Maine Maritime Academy in Castine, Maine. I knew this was my last year playing but what i didn’t realize was that was going to be the last soccer game I wouldever get to play in. To this day, my last memory, which I will never forget wasstanding in goal waiting for the ref to blow his wistle for the game to begin.It was taking forever because we had some girls on the team forget to removetheir earrings…….my next memory is being in the hospital. Apparently 20minutes or so into the first half, there was a ball played through my defenseand so I can out of the 18 and because goalie’s cannot use their hands outsidethe box, I had to clear it with my feet. I was running towards the ball andsomeone from the opposite team was on a dead sprint from half, and after icleared the ball, she collided with me. Her shoulder area with the left side ofmy head. I fell to the ground. (A couple months after my accident i was able towatch the video) Afterwards I was air lifted to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, Me where i spent a couple of days before i was released to return home. Our athletic director would tell me at a later date, how scared he was becasue this was the closest he thought he has ever come to losing an athlete. No i wasn’t dying but that day my life changed.
The person who i used to be, is no longer who I am. I used to be a veryoutgoing person, the life of the party, I was a full-time college student whocould juggle soccer, work and school work. This all changed. I had and stillhave to this day post-concussive headaches, daily. My head can no longer handlelarge crouds of people, it gets very confused, so easily. I had to withdrawfrom classes, extending my last year of school. I couldn’t focus long enough togo to class. Lights, people talking to me at the same time, noise, crowds,stress and many things I was once able to handle. I could no longer cope with.I didn’t have the energy to hangout with friends, processing conversations, letalone having conversations all became a task for me that wore me out and mademy headaches worse. I spent a lot of time in my room, with the shades down,lights off, complete quiet. Not by choice, but because thats all my head couldhandle. My head was broken, and because I looked good on the outside, a lot ofpeople did not understand. Actually I can honestly say no one understood. Istarted having to deal with new emotions of depression and anxiety, that inever thought i’d ever feel. I was always in a state of confussion, and ididn’t understand why i wasn’t back to “normal mindy”. Feelings of anger, and not knowing how to deal with the anger. The inability toexpress myself. Friends would always ask me how come they never see me and why i don’t go out anymore. Or would make comments like “stranger” or “oh man where on earth have you been”. I would never know what to say so i would just laugh it off, little did they know, what was actually going on.
I spent all my time and energy, seeing doctors, trying tofinish the couple classes I had left for my degree and coping with the ideathat I would no longer be able to play the one sport that I loved. Nor would I ever again be able to experience the feeling of flying through the air to make a nasty save, only to stand up with the ball in my hand and look at my teammates who stood there in awe, like how on earth did you do that, just to smile and say, “I have no idea.” Or feeling part of a team, being a strong captain and helping my team make it to the next level. Feeling like I have no purpose for my life, or that I would never be better enough to do anything, or maintain relationships in my life.
Its been now 20 months since my accident. My mom drives me all over the State for therapy. I still cannot live independently. I cannot work. I can’t take care of my finances, my mother does. Still have headaches and breakdowns, daily, weekly. I cry all the time, its almost ridiculous, considering before I wasn’t a crier. I recentlystarted having “seizure-like” activity/convulsions. I still cannot multi-task. I need constant rest or I get exhausted which worsens all of these symptoms. And thelist goes on…………
I am not sharing all of this because I want people to feel sorry for me. thats the last thing I want,
I am sharing this because like these girls, that last concussion, changed my life. Permanently. I think that concussion awareness is so important. Across the board. Not only in college level sports, not only in football, but in all sports and at all levels. Not only the players but the coaches, the parents, the referees. In my case had the ref not been “having a bad day” and not making calls he should have been, all of this would have never happened. And if I could do one thing honestly, it would be to talk to the ref, and tell him how his “off day” changed my life, so maybe the next time he will blow his whistle in order to protect another goalie, and maybe prevent someone else from getting knocked out.
I also think that it is important for medical persons to know the extent and injury like this can cause. And know what therapies are needed and wherethe patient should go next. I know personally for me this has been a hard one. I didn’t get therapy for a long time because I thought that “I was getting better”. I had to crash and burn to see that I wasn’t. It’s not the doctor’s fault I didn’t get therapy right away. I am from a very small town and dealing with severe concussions andeverything that comes with it, is not something these doctors see everyday. My mother had to go online and research doctors who specifically just deal with head injuries and have our doctor do referrals so that I could get the right treatment.
I feel as though the last yr and a half has been the roughest time of my life,but I can say that I have learned so many things I can now share with others. For example the importance of early intervention, seeing doctors who are familiar with brain injuries specifically, what programs are out there for assistance. Also the importance of educating families with someone who has had abrain injury, on what to expect. Support groups for families and for injured, because not only can this change the person’s life with the injury, but it also changes the lives of those around. The do’s and don’ts. Its just crazy. I could go on, but I won’t. With this being said, I now have a purpose for my life. To help others who are goingthrough what I am. To let them know that they are not crazy, their head just needs proper treatment and healing time. I am in the process of designing a t-shirt, that I am going to sell to raise money for people with brain injuries. Eventually I’d like to start an organization, to help people who although they may look ok on the outside, their head is “broken”. And when no one else understands, I will , because I’ve been there