A Word on Obama’s Summit on Concussion Safety
I was watching the late news and there were three reports about a “New” topic: Sports Concussion and the Obama Summit on Concussion Safety. I’ve been a board certified Sports Psychologist for 37 years, and am a survivor of three concussions. For many of us, concussions in sports are not new and have been misdiagnosed for decades. In the past two months I’ve written extensive blog posts for Psychology Today. In several of these posts, on my website, and in a major part of my newest book, Coping with Concussion and Mild Traumatic Brain Injury, I focus on sports injury and concussion-related questions. How often is a concussion misdiagnosed? When should a child start contact sports? If a child is injured, how do they get a proper diagnosis. Once diagnosed, what are the treatments for post-concussion syndrome (PCS)?
I spent two and half years researching methods of diagnosing every known symptom of PCS along with conventional, complementary and alternative approaches for treatment and helping a person regain their life after a concussion. However, even my book is for a generic person and is not personalized. Since I believe in treating the individual and not just the symptom, I developed my 5 prong approach to help provide specific methods and treatment for each person. As part of this approach, I have an integrative team of clinicians.
Yet, every 13 seconds there is another sports concussion somewhere in the world, and my team can’t help everyone. Therefore, I have developed a network of integrative clinicians across the US and the world, so through my consults I’m able to help others like myself regain their lives.
Now, if only the US government and insurance companies would pay for the services we would be able to help many people. Instead, most people’s insurance premiums and deductibles have increased, and many of the services that were once reimbursable are no longer, or they are with a limited number of visits, including physical therapy.
So, as I welcome the new focus on concussion, it does nothing if coaches do not realize that some children should not be playing football. And if children are playing more sports, then the insurance companies must be willing to cover the symptoms of PCS, including problems with attention, focus, memory and sleep disturbances.
I think insurance should start covering concussions, and all brain injuries like they do other parts of the body. The brain is an organ of the body, like any other. It just happens to house parts or lobes that can be injured that have to do with emotions. Mental health professionals have more expertise to deal with emotions, especially if they have been trained in brain injury.
Try to get in touch with Gabby Gifford. She should push insurance companies to cover TBI’s. She would have a very strong voice in recovery. Our daughter has a TBI, 2 stays at TIRR and is now in Mentis in Houston, Tx. Thank you.
I was excited about the initiative until I realized that it is only 30 million, not billion, dollars allocated; and, the recipient (Wisconsin Med School) has a long, longitudinal study planned wherein some of the money goes to an Administrative Site and I can’t remember the other part. Thirty million dollars is not a lot of money to resolve such a huge medical issue, especially when it’s essentially non-integrative because of the single recipient. We have 57,000 veterans waiting for first appts in the VA system. By the time this study is finished, how many more Americans will suffer the life-long complications of concussion/TBI? Maybe we should request an urgent visit from Doctors without Borders. We might get some cross-fertilization instead of another bone thrown to imply that the problem is all taken care of.