National Sports Concussion Summit Reports on Concussion Denial
At the second National Sports Concussion Summit it was announced that thankfully to the increased awareness and the recognition and consequences of head injuries in athletics, concussion denial is decreasing. “It's taken a long time to get there, but right now I think the public awareness is huge,” Dr. Robert Cantu of the Neurologic Sports Injury Center at Boston's Brigham and Women's hospital. “It's as if the Berlin Wall of concussion denial has fallen,” said sports agent Leigh Steinberg, noting a significant shift in both attitude and action within sports since the first summit was held a year ago. Steinberg, who helped organize the summit along with the Sports Concussion Institute, is sponsoring a California program that will institute “baseline testing” in 1,400 high schools, where athletes are given a cognitive exam that can be repeated after injuries to measure brain impairment. Other states like Hawaii have introduced such testing as well. Similar neurological tests were made mandatory last year in the NFL. Sports agent Leigh Steinberg is well known for representing clients whose professional career ended after a number of concussions. He described a moment in 1993 when he saw Troy Aikman after the Dallas Cowboys defeated the San Francisco 49er in the NFC title game. “He asked me where he was,” Steinberg said. “He asked me if he'd played that day. He asked me if he'd won. I said, 'Yes, you're going to the Super Bowl.' Ten minutes later he asked me where he was again.” Steinberg said he knew at that point he had to work on maintaining the minds as well as the money of his clients and other athletes. “It terrified me,” he said.
