Alarming: Nearly 6,800 CT Youths Suffer Concussions

Former UConn starting quarterback Casey Cochran made the biggest decision of his life nearly four years ago when he decided to walk away from a promising football career in an effort to save his life. It isn’t one he regrets.

Cochran decided that his 13th concussion would be his last one from playing football and hung up his cleats at 20 years old. Football had been a massive part of his life, but these days he finds himself at a greater distance from the sport. He is the son of legendary high school football coach Jack Cochran and was named the Gatorade Football Player of the Year two seasons in a row while in high school. He also set the UConn single-game record for passing yards.

Cochran’s story is on the extreme end, but he is far from the only student athlete to suffer from concussions. Nearly 6,800 Connecticut youths have suffered from debilitating concussions in the 2016-2017 school year.

For Cochran, he’s still dealing with the effects of all those concussions nearly four years after his last football game. Two years after his playing career ended, Cochran wrote for the Players Tribune that his neck, back, eyes, and knees still ache, and that all those hits left him with lasting anxiety and depression.

“Very slowly things are coming back and feeling better,” Cochran told Patch. “It took a lot of work seeing different doctors and changing my lifestyle.”

In the Players Tribune article, Cochran described the final play — final crushing hit of his football career.

After a 235-pound linebacker hit him, driving him to the ground, causing his head to violently bounce off of the turf, he said, “When I regained consciousness, I knew I was on the ground. My head was seized with tremendous pressure, and that same awful, familiar depression from previous head injuries came over me — like a dark, heavy blanket, swallowing me up.”

“It was my 13th concussion — a baker’s dozen of brain injuries since I took my first head hit at the age of 11. I understand the weight of this number, and I totally get why people look shocked when I tell it to them. It took 13 for me to finally take a stand and say enough is enough,” Cochran wrote.

Cochran earned a master’s degree in sports management last year and is currently working as a shipwright on the Mayflower II restoration project in Mystic Seaport. The lessons on the football field involving teamwork and a strong work ethic have translated well into his new job, he said.

Outside of work, he advocates for concussion awareness and greater safety in sports, especially for the more than 1 million children playing youth football in the United States.

Concussions In CT And Beyond

Football is often thought of as the sport most associated with concussions, but it is far from the only sport or activity in which they are a high risk. Nearly 6,800 Connecticut students were diagnosed with a concussion during the 2016-2017 school year, according to the state Department of Education concussion analysis report.

A total of 634 diagnosed concussions occurred due to football in the 2016-2017 school year. The report includes numbers for both interscholastic and intramural participants. (See below for a full breakdown of concussion data for Connecticut students.)

Football also has a greater number of participants with nearly 9,600 at the high-school level in Connecticut, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations.

Boys and girls’ soccer come in No. 2 and 3 respectively in the SDE report. There were 276 diagnosed concussions sustained during boys soccer events and 266 for girls events. There were 7,392 boys soccer participants and 5,738 girl participants at the high-school level during the 2016-2017 school year.

A 2015 study found that the number of reported sports-related concussion rates among NCAA athletes was highest among men’s wrestling (10.92 concussions per 10,000 athlete exposures) and both men’s (7.91) and women’s (7.52) ice hockey. The study looked at the number of concussions per athlete exposures, which include competition and practice events.

Football had a rate of 6.71, but had the greatest total number of any sport.

Concussions Myths and Misconceptions

Concussions can occur in virtually any sport and aren’t always caused by a direct blow to the head.

“Any violent shaking of the body or head can cause a concussion,” said Bonnie Meyers, director of programs and services of the Brain Injury Alliance of Connecticut. “It’s not a direct hit to the head all the time.”

Many people are under the impression that all concussions are accompanied by unconsciousness, but that only happens in about 10 percent of cases, Meyers said.

Related: Brain Injury Alliance Of Connecticut Helpline

Some common non-direct-blow causes of concussions include an elbow to the face in basketball, a player falling in soccer or being checked from behind in lacrosse, said Meghan Lewis, clinical assistant professor at Quinnipiac University. Concussions in children tend to take a little longer to heal.

Most children recover fully from a concussion in a matter of weeks, but some symptoms may last a month or longer, according to the CDC. Concussed children should rest for a few days after the injury and sleep as needed. Children can begin to return to light activities and progress to more strenuous exercise and eventually full competition as long as there are no symptoms. The CDC recommends a step program for recovery.

Most children only need minor informal academic adjustments after returning to school, but some require 504 or other stronger support services, according to the CDC.

Additional concussions may take longer to heal than the first one and future concussions could be triggered by less force, Lewis said.

“There is a concern of a threshold of what is triggering it,” Lewis said. “ ...a direct blow to the head may cause the first concussion and then by fifth or sixth concussion something with less force can cause it.”

There isn’t concrete evidence about girls being more susceptible to concussions than boys, but there are suspicions in that direction, Lewis said. The most popular theory at the moment has to do with anatomical differences.

“There is a theory that males tend to have a stronger upper body and more defined neck muscles that can help in preventing that quick motion,” she said.

State Law

Current state law requires high school coaches to take training to recognize the symptoms and dangers of concussions in players. It also provides return to play protocols that gradually step up physical activity as a player recovers and mandates that a doctor clear the player to return to activities.

However, the law only goes so far and doesn’t apply to athletes in town and other youth leagues despite there being 1,071 such concussions last year. A bill being debated in the state legislature would require certain youth coaches to take an online concussion course available through the CDC’s website, but doesn’t set a penalty for failing to take the course.

The Brain Injury Alliance of Connecticut has come out in opposition of the bill due to the lack of penalties for not complying. Executive Director Julie Peters said youth coaches should at least have some minimum mandatory concussion education.

“You wouldn’t want a lifeguard guarding your kids if they didn’t know how to swim,” Peters said.

Some lobbyists have pointed out liability issues, but Peters said that it is a false concern and that it would actually help protect people from liability. The Connecticut Athletic Trainers Association also encouraged a penalty for noncompliance to be included.

The Connecticut Conference of Municipalities opposed the bill in a hearing and said that it would increase liability exposure for municipalities.

Several other groups also voiced opinions on the bill.

Cochran argued that having trained medical personnel at youth practices and games would help keep kids safe. Having an objective observer who can pull a player out due to a suspected concussion would be a benefit, he said.

“That’s not a knock on coaches, that's just a fact,” he said. “There is so much going on the football field it's impossible to see every kid.”

Concussion Culture

Awareness and practices for concussions have improved over the years, but many insist that things haven’t changed enough.

There is more of a happy medium in concussion management where players aren’t immediately forced back into action nor are they isolated in a dark room for days on end, Lewis said.

“Coaches are a little more on board and they understand the severity and significance, but I think there is still that inherent pressure in athletics,” she said.

Concussions are in the public eye now more than ever, but the culture around them hasn’t changed enough, Cochran said. He tried his hand at coaching as an undergraduate assistant at UConn and some at the high-school and youth level. It was impossible to see every single thing that happened to players during practices and games.

“While coaching I saw more and more guys go through concussions and want to keep playing and wanting to fight through symptoms,” he said. “As a coach I felt kind of helpless to take guys out of harm's way.”

In Connecticut, many school districts strive to inform players and parents as much as possible about concussions, Meyers said.

“We have some fabulous programs in Connecticut where coaches and families are educated and informed, but any student in Connecticut should have access to that information.”

Young athletes too should recognize that it's okay and necessary to self-report suspected concussions, Meyers said

Parents also have to be an advocate for their children’s safety, according to Cochran.

“Children's’ health and happiness should really come first always,” he said. “Sports are a great vehicle for kids to learn about themselves and gain confidence and gain lessons they will have for rest of their lives, but it shouldn’t be to detriment of their lives.”

Connecticut State Department of Education Data on concussions for 2016-2017 school year.

Female vs. Male Student Concussions

Where Concussions Occur

Sport Breakdown Includes Interscholastic and Intramural Events

Education Accomodations

Average Length of Time For Accommodations;

Number of School Days Missed Due to Diagnosed Concussions

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