The National Football League is giving $2.5 million to the University of Washington to study concussions in an effort to make sports safer. The donation, which helps advance work already underway at the university, will help fund the Sports, Health, Safety Institute.
Along with figuring out better ways to prevent and treat concussions, researchers will look at a variety of preventable sports health issues.
“Ten times as many young people die from preventable sudden cardiac arrest than they do from brain injury," says Dr. Stan Herring, the medical director of Sports, Spine and Orthopedic Health for UW Medicine and co-medical director of the Sports Concussion Program.
"Heat and hydration issues, sickle trait issues. There’s an opportunity here, the way to make spots most enjoyable and the most attractive is to make it as safe as possible and then to change the value of exercise."
The Harborview Medical Center-based institute also will promote ideas such as getting children to start exercising at a younger age and more often.
One of the inspirations for this effort is ZackeryLystedt of Maple Valley. In 2006 Lystedt was 13-years-old when he went back into a football game after injuring his head. That extra time of play resulted in a catastrophic injury to his brain. It affects everything from his memory and speech to his ability to walk.
He was on-hand for the announcement of the new institute. Lystedt, who’s now 22, says the research that comes out of the organization will prevent others from having to go through his ordeal.
“When people get concussions, they need to take the time to heal their concussion," He said. "And if they don’t take the time to heal their concussion, something very catastrophic could happen to them.”
Lystedt and his family helped get laws passed in all 50 states that require athletes under age 18 to be pulled off the field and checked after a suspected concussion. After years of physical therapy, Lystedt is able to get out of his wheelchair and take 5,000 steps in one day.
Meanwhile, the NFL could be giving millions of dollars to former players who say the league hid the dangers of concussions.
Last April, a Federal judge approved a settlement between the league and retired players that calls for up to $5 million for each player who has suffered head trauma. But some former players are appealing the decision, saying the league, which generates billions each year in revenues, should be required to pay out more money.
