Community
Florence Neurosurgery and Spine sponsors Public Forum on Sports Concussion
Sports concussions remain a serious public health issue that has gained greater awareness mostly through higher profile examples in professional football. Brain autopsies on professional athletes have revealed pathologic changes consistent with Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) related to multiple concussions. These findings have appropriately concerned physicians, nurses, athletic trainers and coaches. Concussion in youth sports, particularly at the high school level, is increasingly recognized as a real and all too common problem. According to the American Association of Neurological Surgeons web site, in 2008 there were more than 300,000 sports-related head injuries treated at hospital emergency rooms within the U.S. The National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research, 2002-2008 Statistics estimates an annual incidence of football-related concussion in the U.S. of 300,000. It is estimated that each year 10 to 15 percent of athletes playing contact sports sustain a concussion.For more information please view the brochure HERE