Football players have always been advised to keep their heads on
a swivel. Now, the NFL is reminding its medical staffs to do the
same.
By Sam Farmer – Los Angeles Times
Football players have always been advised to keep their heads on a swivel. Now, the NFL is reminding its medical staffs to do the same.
Even as it slogs through its labor fight with players, the league has modified its procedures for identifying and treating concussions. Part of that entails advising teams not to commit the entire medical staff to any particular injured player, and instead have part of the staff continue to watch what’s happening on the field.
“Remember, when someone is concussed on the field, there are other doctors and trainers watching the game,” said Dr. Richard Ellenbogen, co-chairman of the NFL’s head, neck and spine committee. “So when one player gets concussed, we have others who are watching to ensure the situation in Philadelphia will not occur.”
The Philadelphia situation came in a 2010 season opener against Green Bay, when Eagles quarterback Kevin Kolb and linebacker Stewart Bradley suffered concussions in rapid-fire succession. While the medical staff was busy examining Kolb, Bradley re-entered the game, risking further injury.
The league now has implemented standard examinations that take several minutes, and which injured players must pass to be eligible to return to action.
Ellenbogen, speaking with reporters on a conference call, said the new standards will help ensure similar situations can be avoided. He said the league made strides on that front last season, praising the way Seattle handled back-to-back concussions in a playoff game against Chicago.
Hall of Fame coach John Madden, who oversees the league’s player-safety advisory panel, said it’s important that decisions whether a player is fit to return will be made by medical personnel instead of coaches.
“Taking it out of the coaches’ hands is the way it always should have been,” he said.
He is calling for a specific term – “No-go” – that can be used in all levels of football to describe a player’s health as it relates to a head injury. If a player is ruled no-go, he’s done for the game. That term will be used in the new version of the Madden video game, he said.
“No-go is in the video game, and I think it should be used on TV by the commentators,” he said. “Our protocol is the player has to leave the field, be escorted off by team personnel, go into the locker room, and will not be made available to the media.”
Madden said that when he was coaching, he can recall being relieved upon learning a player had “only” suffered a head injury, and had not incurred damage to his ankle or knees.
“We were all that way,” Madden said. “Now, you see the seriousness of it.”
