All Articles by Lindsey Barton Straus, JD

Emergency medicine provider use the 15-point Glasgow Coma Scale to determine level of consciousness based on responses to various stimuli.  Patients with suspected concussive injury are categorized  as having mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) if they score a 14-15 on on the GCS, but the scale is not useful in assessing the severity of concussion or how long recovery will take, so that the terms mTBI and concussion should not be used interchangeably, says William P. Meehan, III, MD, MomsTeam concussion medicine expert and author of Kids, Sports, and Concussions.

On June 9, 2011, Alabama governor Robert Bentley signed the state's youth sports concussion safety bill into law.  Alabama joined a growing group of states that passed such laws since May 2009, when Washington State's groundbreaking Zackery Lystedt Law was enacted.

On July 13, 2011, Missouri governor Jay Nixon signed into law H.B. 300, 334, and 387, titled the "Interscholastic Youth Sports Brain Injury Prevention Act."   Missouri is the twenty-fifth state to enact strong youth sports concussion safety legislation since the Washington State's groundbreaking Zackery Lystedt Law was enacted in May 2009.

Male athletes are at increased risk of cartilage lesions in anterior cruciate ligament (ACL)-injured knees, placing them at higher risk of developing the debilitating joint condition osteoarthritis (OA), says a new study presented at the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine's 2011 Annual Meeting in San Diego.  A delay to reconstructive surgery did not increase the risk of developing full-thickness cartilage lesions, as long as surgery occurred within 12 months of injury. 

Scores on a test commonly used to assess concussions on the sport sideline vary by an athlete's gender and concussion history, reports a new study.  Establishing an individual baseline for each youth athlete in contact and collision sports is therefore critical to proper management of a subsequent concussion and the timing for safe return to play.

A computerized neuropsychological test commonly used to evaluate sports-related concussions misclassified up to 29 percent of healthy participants in a recent test by a University of Texas at Arlington kinesiology researcher.

Attending camp can be an unforgettable experience for young children, and it can have a positive effect on their psychological development, self esteem and independence, says the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) in a revised policy statement published in the April 2011 issue of the journal Pediatrics. 

In early June 2010 tragedy struck a baseball field in Arizona when a 13-year-old Little Leaguer trying to bunt was struck in the chest. He took a few steps towards first base, collapsed, and died the next morning. Getting hit by a pitch is to be expected when playing baseball. Dying is not. What killed the Arizona boy? A rare condition called commotio cordis.

On June 16, 2011, North Carolina governor Bev Perdue signed the Gfeller-Waller Concussion Awareness Act, adding the state to the list of twenty-three states that have enacted strong youth sports concussion safety laws since the first such law was passed in May 2009.