[Columbia, MO]
Jacob Biddle, a sophomore linebacker for Hickman High School, took to the practice field in late August for one of the final practices before the 2012 football season started.
Unbeknownst to Biddle, it would be the last time he stepped on the field wearing a Hickman jersey, due to a blind side hit.
“I didn’t see the guy coming for some reason, and he hit me hard,” Biddle said. “He picked me up hard and I came down on my head. I just lay there and didn’t know what to do. I didn’t even know I was at the training station afterwards.”
It led to Biddle’s 10th concussion, and his third in this year alone. He was forced to sit out for the entire 2012 season.
“It changes your whole life,” Biddle said. “Maybe not really with one or two concussions, but once you get past a certain point, they really do affect you… It kind of worries me.”
But Biddle says he is not done yet.
Next year, Biddle will transfer to Battle High School, which opens in August 2013 in northeastern Columbia. While medical professionals may advise against it, he wants to set the standard for the new football team.
“I want to make the tradition, and make the records and stuff, since I’ll be in the first graduating class from there,” Biddle said. “I don’t want to quit high school sports because of this, so I think I’m going to have to just be really careful in how I do it.”
He noted that he was cleared to participate in wrestling at Hickman in the winter, but decided to take that season off, to give himself a whole year to recover.
Biddle said that the excessive concussions have started to affect him physically.
“I picked up a stutter after that last concussion,” Biddle said. “And I’ve had a headache ever since. I take special migraine medicine for when I sleep, because I had trouble sleeping for a while.”
Due to the longstanding symptoms that have begun to plague him, Biddle’s recovery process takes longer than most.
“(After a concussion) I feel horrible, and my head hurts so I try to stay in dark places,” Biddle said. “I usually just lay in my room for a couple weeks.”
He said it’s difficult to go to school for the first few weeks after a concussion because of his recurring headaches.
After he has been symptom-free for three days, usually two weeks after the concussion, he starts running and working out on a progressive schedule. The activities and exercise continue for about three weeks, until he is cleared to play.
He has realized the severity of his collection of injuries, and said it has made him more cautious. While quitting high school sports was an option, his passion for football made it an easy decision to continue his career next year at Battle.
Biddle has been an aberration in the Hickman system. Despite having so many head injuries, they were spread out over enough time that he could continue to play after each one.
“We have a ‘three strikes, you’re out’ policy for each year,” said Hickman athletic trainer Stefanie West regarding concussions in football players.
Luckily for Biddle, that rule doesn’t apply to a whole career, or he would have made an inning’s worth of outs already.
Concussions have been plaguing football players since the game’s creation, but the sport appears to be on the right track for better prevention going forward.
“The awareness is a lot higher now than it used to be,” said Aaron Gray, a sports medicine specialist at MU. “I think that stems from the fact that the NFL is promoting so much awareness in its league.”
From the NFL down to the high school level and younger, coaches, trainers and medical professionals are starting to put more emphasis on players who may have suffered a concussion. They are using more caution when diagnosing head injuries and are keeping players out longer to make sure their recovery is complete.
Hickman High School is taking even more steps toward avoiding and preventing concussions. Hickman athletic trainer Stefanie West said that proper technique and equipment could both play a role in preventing head injuries.
“I talk to the athletes about seeing what they hit by keeping their head up when they tackle,” West said. “Also, with the majority of the concussions, their helmets have lost air, their mouthpiece has been chewed down to nothing or there’s something else going on. So sometimes it is equipment.”
As a current player, Biddle believes that head injuries are inevitable in football.
“It’s going to come with the game,” Biddle said. “That’s just how it is. It’s not even just a contact sport; it’s a collision sport.”
According to West, mouth guards are very important in preventing concussions, while helmets may be overhyped. She said a lot of concussion-inducing hits land on the jaw, especially ones that lead to unconsciousness.
She said helmets do a good job protecting the skull, but can’t secure the brain or prevent it from moving.
“Your brain is like a bowl of Jell-O sitting in a bowl of water, so it’s a sudden stop when the brain keeps going forward that causes the rattle against the inside of the skull [leading to a concussion],” West said.
Once a concussion occurs, several steps are taken before an athlete can return to playing.
Gray said that in Columbia public schools a player must be completely symptom-free for 24 hours before he or she can even begin the three-day progression period to rehabilitate and get back on the field.
“Once an athlete has become completely symptom free and their balance and mental functions are back to normal, we do a gradual progression of activities,” Gray said. “Every day they gradually increase the intensity of the activities until they are able to return to play.”
Both Gray and West agreed that a common misconception regarding concussions is a quick recovery period. West said that it can take up to four weeks for a player’s brain to recover from a concussion, and that some of the worst cases she’s seen took even longer.
This misconception can be especially dangerous for high school athletes. Their recovery time normally lasts longer, because their brains aren’t as fully developed as the brain of a college or professional player. Gray said a recent study found that 90 percent of college athletes recovered from concussions in a week or less, while only 50 percent of high school athletes are symptom free after a week.
According to West and Gray, there is only one true treatment for a concussion.
“The biggest thing with this is trying to educate athletes and parents about the seriousness of concussions,” Gray said. “And that rest is the only treatment…. It’s simply time.”
Comments